Deal would lessen the charge for a man accused of killing a
local resident
n By Kollin Kosmicki Staff writer
Hollister – Within the next 10 days, the District Attorney’s Office plans to accept or deny a plea bargain offer from the lawyer representing one of two accused killers in the June, 2003 murder of 73-year-old Ralph Santos.
District Attorney John Sarsfield said his office won’t make a decision before talking to Santos’ family, which he expects to happen in the next week.
The plea bargain for Eliseo Rojas would lessen a murder charge to manslaughter, which carries a maximum 13-year prison sentence instead of life in prison. It would be in exchange for testimony against the other man accused of murder, Eusebio Ramos.
The lawyer for Rojas, Bud Landreth, said the two sides were ready to complete the plea bargain in mid-August, but a story published in the Free Lance about the proposed deal delayed the negotiations.
“We pretty well had it,” he said.
At the time, the family had not yet been notified of the plea bargain offer from Rojas’ side, according to their attorney, Phillips Sweet. Though Sarsfield says the District Attorney’s Office had not, and has not, committed to the plea bargain.
Rojas, 20, and Ramos, 31, are facing charges of murder and auto theft, along with hate crime charges because police believe Santos’ alternative lifestyle – propositioning men for sex – led to the killing.
“We’re not going to decide anything until we talk to the family first,” Sarsfield said.
Asked if the family’s feedback will play a role in his decision, Sarsfield said, “Absolutely.”
Sweet, who speaks to the press on behalf of the family, did not return phone calls to his office.
Santos disappeared June 10 of last year and his body turned up in a mustard seed field nine days later. Rojas and Ramos were arrested and later confessed to the murder.
Kollin Kosmicki covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach him at 637-5566, ext. 331, or [email protected].
