SANTA ANA – The defense attorney for the Fullerton police officer charged with second-degree murder in the beating death of a homeless man said Monday that his client was doing his job within department policy and “certainly committed no crime.”
Defense attorney John Barnett, one of the top criminal lawyers in Orange County, told reporters that victim Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old transient with a history of schizophrenia, was a violence-prone, dangerous ex-felon who refused to comply with lawful orders from Officer Manuel Ramos outside the Fullerton Transportation Center.
“Kelly Thomas needed only to obey lawful orders and he simply would have been taken into custody,” Barnett told reporters. “He did not do that…Lethal force was used because of Kelly’s action.”
Barnett talked to reporters after he entered no guilty pleas on behalf of Ramos at his arraignment Monday before Superior Court Judge Erick L. Larsh, who scheduled a pre-trial hearing for Nov. 4. Attorneys are expected to select a date for a preliminary hearing then to test the evidence.
Ramos, 37, sat quietly in a jail uniform in a holding cage in Larsh’s third-floor courtroom during Monday’s court session. He is the first police officer in Orange County history to be charged with murder for an incident that occurred when he was on duty and in police uniform.
Larsh ordered that Ramos, a 10-year veteran of the Fullerton Department, be kept in custody on $1 million bail after he heard an impassioned plea from Ron Thomas, Kelly’s father.
Ron Thomas, who has been outspoken in his insistence that the officers involved in his son’s death be prosecuted for murder, said he has been fearful of retaliation. He added that Ramos is responsible for the “brutal, brutal murder of my son” who should remain in custody pending trial.
Thomas said it was “gratifying” to see Ramos behind bars. He also said he made eye contact with the defendant during the hearing. “I stared at him right in the eye…and watched him turn his eyes away, knowing that I was the father of the man he murdered…The man is a … coward.”
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas also asked that Ramos’ bail be kept at $1million, which is the standard bail on a murder charge. Rackauckas noted that Ramos, who is being held isolated from other inmates because of he has received threats and because of his status as a police officer, has been on suicide watch for the law few days.
Barnett urged a lowering of bail, arguing that Ramos and his family have long-standing ties to the community, has three young sons, does not have a criminal record, and is not a flight risk.
The defense attorney also contended that the circumstances that led to Ramos’ arrests are a “one-of-a-kind” situation where his client was on duty when the encounter with Kelly Thomas took place and those circumstances would not happen again. Ramos, who has since been removed from active duty and his gun confiscated, is not a danger to the community, Barnett insisted.
Ramos surrendered to district attorney’s investigators last Wednesday shortly before District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced in a news conference attended by about 200 reporters, prosecutors and others that Ramos had been charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter for his role in Thomas’ death
Thomas was beaten and suffocated July 5 after a scuffle with six policemen near the Fullerton Transportation Center. The 30-minute skirmish was witnessed by several people and captured on surveillance video.
Rackauckas said last week that he made the decision to charge Ramos with second-degree murder after he scrutinized evidence gathered by his investigators, who interviewed 151 witnesses, gathered medical records and autopsy results and police reports submitted by the six officers at the scene. He also analyzed the 30-minute video from the bus depot and cell phone videos taken by two witnesses.
The district attorney said the totality of the evidence convinced him that Ramos “set in motion the events that led to Kelly Thomas’ death” by first verbally sparring with the mentally ill man, and then threatening to beat him up.
Ramos snapped on a pair of latex gloves, leaned over Thomas in menacing manner and made two fists, Rackauckas said, before telling the bewildered homeless man, “Now, see my fists? … They are getting ready to f— you up.”
That declaration, Rackauckas said, “was a turning point … a defining moment” that led to the beating that resulted in Thomas’ death.
During the next 10 minutes, Rackauckas said, Thomas was tackled, hit with a baton, pinned to the ground, punched repeatedly in the ribs, kneed in the head, stunned with a Taser four times and then struck in the face with the Taser gun eight times.
Ramos faces a potential sentence of 15-years to life if convicted of second-degree murder. A jury could also find him guilty of lesser crime of involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
Fullerton police Cpl. Jay Cicinelli, 39, a 12-year veteran of the Fullerton police force, was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter and excessive force under color of authority for his role in helping subdue Thomas.
Rackauckas said Cicinelli fired his Taser four times into Thomas, and then smashed him in the face eight times with the butt of his Taser after Thomas became non-responsive.
Cicinelli faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted. Cicinelli paid his $25,000 bail Wednesday and was released.
Contact the writer: lwelborn@ocregister.com or 714-834-3784
