,
26 tweets,
5 min read
Read on Twitter
day 2 of alex ramos’ trial starts soon. his lawyer is hoping to sell the jury on an assault & battery conviction, as opposed to the commonwealth’s argument for felony malicious wounding. nobody’s saying he didn’t punch deandre, but it’s the difference between time served & 5-20.
initial notes on day one are here:
while the commonwealth didn’t bring it up in their opening statement, i’m still wondering whether they’ll try to introduce any argument about ramos having SOMETHING wrapped around his fist under that cloth. i’ve heard it speculated that it was brass knuckles or a chain.
they were resistant to elmer’s attempts to tie specific injuries to specific attackers during the goodwin trial earlier this week, but if they argue the gash on harris’ head came from ramos’ punch, they may have the ER nurse testify to how such an injury may have occurred.
pure speculation on my part. but the nurse gave some very clear & authoritative testimony on the broken arm tuesday that surprised me. perhaps he has a theory about how a punch could cause such a wound?
the prosecution will likely call three more witnesses today: nurse pryce, detective hickey, and CSO brian arndt. i expect hickey’s testimony to be identical. i’ve seen him on the stand about this case many times now — he’s a good witness. clear, professional, consistent.
i suspect they’ll take a different approach to the nurse today, even if they don’t try to use his testimony to introduce the idea of a weapon. the third witness was not called at goodwin’s trial... not sure what he’ll be testifying about.
i am running a little late, but headed in now. judge moore tries to give the jury a break every hour and a half or so.
the prosecution moved quickly through their first two witnesses this morning. they’ll call detective hickey after this break & then rest. unclear if the defense intends to call ramos.
no testimony from the nurse practitioner about a possible weapon or the specific cause of any wound. he did provide a clearer explanation of the ulnar fracture today, calling it a nightstick injury - this doesn’t speculate as to the cause, but is the name of this type of fracture
i expect they’ll have hickey on the stand for about an hour. even if they call ramos, that can’t take more than half an hour, then defense will rest. then jury instructions & closing. the jury could be deliberating by lunch time or soon after. maybe we’ll all be home for dinner.
quick break during defense’s cross examination of detective hickey. prosecution will rest after this. sounds like defense will not be presenting any evidence or putting ramos on the stand.
they’ll work out jury instructions over a lunch break for the jury around 12:30.
they’ll work out jury instructions over a lunch break for the jury around 12:30.
prosecution had hickey on the stand for about an hour. he did mention the shirt wrapped around ramos’ fist a number of times. i suspect antony will raise the issue of something being under there in her closing... not evidence per se, but put the idea in the jury’s heads.
hickey read portions of a facebook post ramos made after A12 where he claims “we stomped some ass” and “i’m still looking for a victory bash.”
one juror looked at ramos with disgust and horror, shaking her head.
one juror looked at ramos with disgust and horror, shaking her head.
after their motion to strike the malicious wounding charge, the defense took ten minutes to consider, then affirmed they’d be offering no evidence & rested. jurors have been sent to lunch until 2:05.
the motion was denied, obviously. sorry about that.
more on the judge’s commentary on that after i’ve let my dogs out for a break of their own.
more on the judge’s commentary on that after i’ve let my dogs out for a break of their own.
ok i tried this new thing where i also eat lunch during the lunch break. so no full update now...
suffice it to say that i’m confident that if this were a bench trial, judge moore would’ve just convicted on malicious wounding.
heading back now to hear jury instructions.
suffice it to say that i’m confident that if this were a bench trial, judge moore would’ve just convicted on malicious wounding.
heading back now to hear jury instructions.
the jury has been sent to deliberate. goodwin’s jury took just an hour and twenty minutes. these folks didn’t look like they’d need much longer...
after deliberating for only 35 minutes, the jury found alex ramos guilty of felony malicious wounding of deandre harris.
now they’ll deliberate on their sentencing recommendation. the minimum sentence is 5 years, but they could recommend as much as 20 years.
now they’ll deliberate on their sentencing recommendation. the minimum sentence is 5 years, but they could recommend as much as 20 years.
this exhibit was the final nail in the coffin, i think. 
platania reminded them of the crying laughing emojis ramos used here as his final statement to the jury before they left to deliberate on the sentencing recommendation.
he asked them to lay all the photos of deandre’s injuries out on the table. how do those images make them feel? then “put mr. ramos’ facebook post next to those pictures.” look at deandre lying on the ground being attacked next to the image of his attacker’s laughter.
jack, judge moore disagrees. he said this outside the presence of a jury, but he clearly believed ramos had something under there. as he swings, “in the video, the cloth looks like it’s leading. if it’s just cloth, it would trail.”
there’s something with weight under that shirt.
there’s something with weight under that shirt.
the jury rang the bell... we may be done or they may have a question.
just a question! the jury wanted to know if they could recommend a range or if they had to settle on a specific number of years/dollar amount. the answer is yes to both (assuming they recommend the fine as well, which they don’t have to).
the jury recommended six years and no fine. the sentencing hearing will be on august 23, the same day as goodwin’s.
