Law-Forums.org

[armin]

Jury selection is scheduled to start in a long-awaited triple murder trial of an illegal immigrant accused of fatally shooting a man and his two sons in traffic nearly four years ago.

Edwin Ramos is suspected of opening fire on Tony Bologna, 48, and two of his sons, Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, who were shot in their car at an intersection in the city's Excelsior district while driving home from a picnic on June 22, 2008.

A third son inside the car wasn't injured.

Ramos was a member of the MS-13 street gang and mistook one of the sons for a gang rival, prosecutors said.

Ramos has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, claiming he was the getaway driver and another man in his car was the gunman. That passenger, another suspected MS-13 member, has not been found.

Jury selection is expected to begin Tuesday and take a few weeks. If convicted, Ramos could face life in prison without parole.

The shootings sparked public outrage over San Francisco's sanctuary city policy for illegal immigrants. Under a loophole, juveniles charged with felonies were not turned over for deportation, which allowed Ramos to stay in the U.S. despite his criminal record.

A state appeals court ruled last year that San Francisco was not legally liable for the deaths because of its sanctuary policy.

Bologna's widow and daughter argued that the city was responsible for the shootings because it failed to turn Ramos over to federal immigration authorities after his prior brushes with the law.

Ramos was previously arrested for assault in October 2003 and attempted purse-snatching in 2004 and was sent to juvenile shelters. Court documents don't reveal if police or juvenile courts knew that Ramos had entered the country illegally.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/02/state/n105419S37.DTL#ixzz1iLNewqbz

[hackett]

Jury selection is scheduled to start in a long-awaited triple murder trial of an illegal immigrant accused of fatally shooting a man and his two sons in traffic nearly four years ago.

Edwin Ramos is suspected of opening fire on Tony Bologna, 48, and two of his sons, Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, who were shot in their car at an intersection in the city's Excelsior district while driving home from a picnic on June 22, 2008.

A third son inside the car wasn't injured.

Ramos was a member of the MS-13 street gang and mistook one of the sons for a gang rival, prosecutors said.

Ramos has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, claiming he was the getaway driver and another man in his car was the gunman. That passenger, another suspected MS-13 member, has not been found.

Jury selection is expected to begin Tuesday and take a few weeks. If convicted, Ramos could face life in prison without parole.

The shootings sparked public outrage over San Francisco's sanctuary city policy for illegal immigrants. Under a loophole, juveniles charged with felonies were not turned over for deportation, which allowed Ramos to stay in the U.S. despite his criminal record.

A state appeals court ruled last year that San Francisco was not legally liable for the deaths because of its sanctuary policy.

Bologna's widow and daughter argued that the city was responsible for the shootings because it failed to turn Ramos over to federal immigration authorities after his prior brushes with the law.

Ramos was previously arrested for assault in October 2003 and attempted purse-snatching in 2004 and was sent to juvenile shelters. Court documents don't reveal if police or juvenile courts knew that Ramos had entered the country illegally.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/02/state/n105419S37.DTL#ixzz1iLNewqbz

He deserves to be executed!!! And I agree that S.F. should be held responsible since they failed to protect it's people!! But it's Cal so they are not!

[crom]

Just because one illegal immigrant committed a crime does not mean that the rest should be scrutinized as well. That is like saying "hmm, Hitler was German, Hitler was evil, thus Germans are evil." While I feel very sorry for the family who suffered this murder, and hope that the one who committed it is prosecuted for it, the weight of this should not fall on those who had nothing to do with it.