The attorney for the family of Ralph Santos, killed in 2003,
filed a motion to dismiss a plea bargain that dropped murder
suspect Eliseo Rojas’ charge to voluntary manslaughter minutes
before Santos’ family members began picketing the district
attorney’s office Wednesday.
Hollister – The attorney for the family of Ralph Santos, killed in 2003, filed a motion to dismiss a plea bargain that dropped murder suspect Eliseo Rojas’ charge to voluntary manslaughter minutes before Santos’ family members began picketing the district attorney’s office Wednesday.
More than 30 of Santos’ family members stationed themselves in front of District Attorney John Sarsfield’s office on Fourth Street and throughout the day wove through parts of downtown Hollister to protest the plea bargain, which they say is unfair and illegal. The motion filed by attorney Arthur Cantu requests a judge throw out the deal and require both Rojas and Eusebio Ramos’ fate be determined by a jury. It includes more than 300 signed declarations from friends and family members who disagree with the plea bargain.
Santos was killed in June of 2003 and his body left in a mustard seed field off Buena Vista Road after allegedly soliciting sex from Rojas and Ramos, which is why they killed him, according to Sarsfield. The family,
however, believes the suspected killers fabricated the sexual allegations as a way to escape harsh prosecution, and that the case isn’t about homosexuality – it’s about murder.
Under the terms of Rojas’ plea, he must testify against Ramos, waive all his rights to an appeal and serve a maximum of 11 years and eight months in prison. Ramos, who is awaiting a jury trial for first-degree murder, could face life behind bars if convicted.
Cantu’s motion to throw out the plea claims Sarsfield lied to the family about when the deal was going to be agreed upon, which he says violated their rights as victims. Cantu also says Sarsfield accepted the deal because he’s personal friends with Rojas’ defense attorney, Bud Landreth.
“The family is now speaking with one voice and they want justice. And justice means they want Sarsfield to start acting like a prosecutor and not a defense attorney, cutting deals,” Cantu said. “I’m confident the case law and the codes support our position.”
Sarsfield believes Cantu’s motion has no chance of overturning the plea. He said he understands the family’s anger, but agreed to the plea because there are weaknesses in the case and he doesn’t want to take the chance that Rojas could walk free.
“I understand exactly what they want, but I have to do what’s best for the community as a whole,” he said.
At the protest, family members – from infants strapped to their mother’s chests in baby carriers to those in their 80s walking with canes – sang and held signs claiming “Sarsfield Lied” and “Justice 4 Grandpa Santos.” Cantu and investigators Richard Boomer and Dennis Stafford also carried protest signs.
Sarsfield wasn’t phased by the protest, calling it “mildly entertaining,” and an exhibition of the most basic of Constitutional rights – free speech. He believes Cantu’s motion has no chance of overturning the plea, and that the plea was based on the facts of the case as they are.
“If they want to call me a liar they can call me a liar. That’s what our country’s about,” he said. “Any day that Mr. Boomer, Mr. Cantu and Mr. Stafford are seen together protesting me is a good day.”
Lorie Santos, Santos’ daughter, said she took the day off work and took her children out of school to try to seek justice.
“It’s healing for us,” she said. “We’re saying, ‘Dad, we’re still here, we still care, we’re still fighting.'”
Boomer said he came out to support the family, which he feels has been put through the wringer by two criminals, and now Sarsfield.
“I’m here because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “The police department did end up doing a good job, and it’s a solid case. The weakest link is in the second story here (Sarsfield), and he should do his job.”
One of the family’s biggest grievances is that they believe Sarsfield wasn’t truthful with them about the time the plea bargain would be agreed upon.
On the day the plea was signed, the family was not in court because they said Sarsfield e-mailed them that the court date, Nov. 10, was inconsequential and it was only a date to set another date. They said they repeatedly asked to be notified when the deal would be struck so they could voice their objections in open court.
Sarsfield said that Nov. 10 was originally a day to set a date, but that the attorneys ended up agreeing on the plea instead. He said he sent the family’s attorney an e-mail Nov. 3 outlining the details of the plea agreement and that his office had been in contact with the family all along.
According to court transcripts, the plea agreement was executed on Nov. 7 and officially agreed upon three days later. The documented court proceedings were held Nov. 10 and included Judge Harry Tobias, Deputy District Attorney Steven Wagner and Rojas’ attorney Bud Landreth.
Sarsfield said he signed the plea on Nov. 10, but couldn’t comment in any more detail.
“Because of what Mr. Cantu has done (filing the motion), I can’t discuss any factual allegations at all,” Sarsfield said. “I’m not in a position to argue the facts of a case pending litigation.”
Wagner and Landreth did not return phone calls Wednesday.
The family believes there’s plenty of evidence, including a video-taped confession, to convict Rojas and Ramos on first-degree murder.
But Sarsfield has said his strategy is the best way to get justice. Rojas’ original confession was thrown out because he was not properly Mirandized, and a second video-taped confession in which Rojas demonstrates how he strangled Santos with his shoelace has not been deemed admissible in court.
Sarsfield said a judge could rule that the second confession is inadmissible because it would not have been taken if the first one hadn’t been thrown out. The cause of death also was never determined because of the decomposition of the body, and that, coupled with what Sarsfield called Santos’ “dangerous double life,” could leave the prosecution with a very weak case in court, he said.
Sarsfield believes Rojas and Ramos killed the 73-year-old man and left his body in a mustard seed field off Buena Vista Road in June of 2003 because Santos solicited sex from them. According to the police report, Ramos said the two men negotiated sex acts with Santos and in exchange Santos agreed to give them his car. The men became enraged when Santos declined to give them his car after the sex acts were performed and killed him, according to the police report.
The family believes the men fabricated the sexual allegations as a way to lessen their punishment.
“The only two people saying Grandpa is a homosexual are the two men that murdered him,” said Craig Santos, Santos’ grandson. “There’s two confessions from two murderers, and it seems like (Sarsfield’s) not acknowledging the fact that he knows how Grandpa died.”
Rojas is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 19., but the family requested a judge hear the motion to set aside the plea on Jan. 5 at 9am, according to Cantu’s motion. Ramos’ next court date is Jan. 5.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
