One of two men accused of killing 73-year-old Ralph Santos in
June 2003 may get a plea bargain and receive a lesser charge with a
maximum 13-year prison sentence in exchange for testimony against
his alleged accomplice.
One of two men accused of killing 73-year-old Ralph Santos in June 2003 may get a plea bargain and receive a lesser charge with a maximum 13-year prison sentence in exchange for testimony against his alleged accomplice.
Under a proposed plea bargain being considered by the District Attorney’s Office, Eliseo Rojas would get his murder charge reduced to manslaughter if he testifies against Eusebio Ramos, according to the two men’s lawyers.
If local prosecutors and Rojas complete the deal, he would avoid facing charges that carry a possible life sentence – while presumably lowering Ramos’ chances for exoneration from a murder charge that could land him behind bars for life.
Santos was last seen June 10 of last year before his body turned up in a mustard seed field nine days later. Ramos and Rojas later confessed and were both charged for the murder – along with felony charges for a hate crime and stealing Santos’ car.
A jury trial had been set for September. Wednesday, Judge Harry Tobias granted a request from Ramos’ lawyer, Arlene Allan, to move the trial from Sept. 13 to Nov. 1 so she can “investigate new information” relating to the plea bargain.
Rojas’ lawyer Bud Landreth confirmed the plea bargain is under consideration and was optimistic about the agreement. There’s no set timeline to complete the deal, he said.
“I would say the prospects appear positive,” Landreth said.
But Allan criticized the prosecution because she just learned about the agreement at Wednesday’s case conference.
“It’s a little disheartening for me to receive information from the DA’s office this late and expect me to prepare for a trial Sept. 13,” Allan said.
Allan said the District Attorney’s Office is now focusing on Ramos, saying, “They’ve made some determination that it’s all my client’s fault.” She said she was surprised by that revelation.
District Attorney John Sarsfield confirmed in an e-mail there are “ongoing negotiations” between one of the defendants and the prosecution.
“The negotiations concern a possible plea agreement and offer to cooperate. However, I will only be able to discuss it in detail with you once it is finalized,” Sarsfield wrote.
Deputy District Attorney Stephen Wagner is prosecuting the case and declined to comment.
“I must respectfully turn down your repeated invitations to try this case in the press,” Wagner wrote in a faxed response to the Free Lance.
Ramos, 30, and Rojas, 20, also face the hate crime charges; investigators believe they killed Santos on June 10 after learning of his alternative lifestyle that included soliciting sex from men.
The hate crime charge for Rojas wouldn’t be dropped under the plea bargain, according to lawyers. And it’s unclear whether the felony charge for stealing Santos’ vehicle would stand.
Santos’ family began searching for Santos after he went missing June 10. When his body turned up in a field, they immediately blasted local law enforcement claiming police weren’t aggressive enough in the investigation. Ramos and Rojas were arrested in Stockton June 29 after being spotted driving Santos’ 2002 Kia Optima.
The Santos family could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Rojas is ready to accept the plea bargain, Landreth said, because going to trial carries a “risk factor.”
“Sometimes it’s simply not worth running the risk of that type of a sentence,” Landreth said.
Landreth and Allan previously had been trying to have the judge throw out confessions by the two men. They had claimed police in Stockton didn’t properly inform Ramos and Rojas of their Miranda rights, which lay out a suspect’s legal rights when being arrested.
The lawyers are no longer challenging the admissibility of the confessions. But Landreth said he would if there’s no plea bargain.
