Thread: CA-Hearing begins in notorious S.F. slayings

Hearing begins in notorious S.F. slayings
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, June 15, 2009



(06-15) 14:22 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A year after the fatal shootings of a San Francisco father and his two sons inflamed controversy over the city's sanctuary policies for protecting illegal immigrants, the 22-year-old suspect appeared in court today for a preliminary hearing that will determine whether he stands trial.

Edwin Ramos, a Salvadoran immigrant and alleged member of the MS-13 gang, was once shielded from possible deportation after a pair of juvenile arrests, under an interpretation of San Francisco's sanctuary policy that officials have since disowned.

Prosecutors say he mistook his younger victims for gang rivals when he opened fire on them last June 22 as they drove in the Excelsior district.

Ramos has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys have said in the past that he is not a gang member.

The hearing in front of Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson is expected to last several days. It began this morning after Ramos sought unsuccessfully for Jackson to close it to the public. His attorneys argued that some evidence or testimony could endanger Ramos' wife and child if it is aired.

Ramos is accused of murdering Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Matthew, 20, and Michael, 16. He appeared in court with his ankles and left hand shackled. About a dozen members of the Bologna family attended the proceedings but declined to comment.

The Chronicle revealed last year that Ramos was an illegal immigrant who was found to have committed two felonies at age 17 - a gang-related assault of a young man aboard a Muni bus and the attempted robbery of a pregnant woman - but was not surrendered by juvenile justice authorities to federal officials for possible deportation.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera subsequently said there was nothing in the city's policy of refusing to cooperate with federal authorities in deporting illegal immigrants that required juvenile justice officials to protect youths who commit felonies. Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered juvenile authorities to turn over underage offenders to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency if they were undocumented immigrants.

The Bologna family has sued the city, blaming the city's "official and unofficial" sanctuary policies for allowing Ramos to walk free before the killings.

E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 187H16.DTL

Does this mean his actual trial has started? Anyone know? Or is this just some kind of pretrial thing?

Anybody know how her lawsuit is going?

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http://www.alipac.us/article4305.html

One of the reasons why I left the SF bay area was because of the incredible number of immigrants that were flooding into the area. I kept feeling like I needed to live around a majority of people who actually loved this country and understood a little about it's history. I was finding over and over again that the immigrants I was running into were just plain rude. Rather than judge them, I moved. I actually thought Arizona would be better. I don't have a clue where that idea came from and now I am trying to get out of here. I will say that in the bay area they tended to follow the rules a little bit. Here they do what they please.

I just want to live around people who appreciate this country and are not here to take what they can and "who cares about the natives". I have found that most of the immigrants I run into in Arizona actually believe that Mexico not only was robbed of this area but is going to own this place, and soon. If we keep sleeping through this invasion, they will.

Triple-homicide suspect’s violent past described
By: Tamara Barak Aparton
Examiner Staff Writer
06/15/09 9:40 PM PDT

The man accused of fatally shooting three members of a San Francisco family has a violent past and a penchant for running with gang members, several investigators testified at a hearing Monday.

Edwin Ramos, 22, is charged with three counts of murder in the June 22, 2008, killing of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, as they returned home after a family picnic. Ramos also faces special allegations related to his suspected involvement in the Mara Salvatrucha gang, using a gun and committing multiple murders.

Monday’s preliminary hearing, which should continue for at least a week, will determine whether there’s enough evidence to support the charges.

Ramos’ attorney, Marla Zamora, asked that the hearing be held in private, citing her client’s fear that evidence presented would put the lives of his wife and child at risk. Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson denied the request Monday but indicated she may revisit the issue.

San Francisco police Inspector Raymond Gee, the first to respond to the Bologna murders, described the Excelsior district street where the trio was shot in their car as littered with shattered glass and stained with blood. A beer can and folded piece of paper that were found in the area subsequently tested negative for fingerprints, but were never tested for DNA, Gee said after questioning from Zamora.

Officer Lynn Reilly also took the stand, describing Ramos’ Oct. 22, 2003, arrest for allegedly taking part in the beating of a young teenage Muni passenger in the Mission district.

The victim, a boy, told police that Ramos, then 17, and two men rushed onto the bus and beat him after asking, “Who are you down with?â€

Ramos’ attorney, Marla Zamora, asked that the hearing be held in private, citing her client’s fear that evidence presented would put the lives of his wife and child at risk.

Really? The same wife and child who were photographed after he was caught? Shame, he should of thought of them when he murdered Danielle Bologna's family!

Surviving Bologna son testifies in Ramos preliminary hearing
Bay City News
06/17/09 7:52 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco man whose fathers and two brothers were shot and killed in their car last year testified tearfully at a preliminary hearing today about the family's wordless encounter with the man accused of being the murderer.

Andrew Bologna took the stand in San Francisco Superior Court at the preliminary hearing of Edwin Ramos, 22, of El Sobrante, a suspected member of the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 street gang.

Ramos is accused of murdering Anthony "Tony" Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, as they sat in their Honda Civic at an intersection near their home in the Excelsior District of San Francisco on the afternoon of Sunday, June 22, 2008.

Police have speculated the shooter may have mistaken the Bolognas for rival gang members.

Andrew Bologna was also in the car, sitting in the back seat behind his father, who was driving his three sons back from a family barbecue in Fairfield.

But he said he ducked down when he heard gunfire and escaped injury.

"I heard the shots first, that's when I ducked," he testified today.

Bologna said his father had backed up their Honda to allow a Chrysler 300M with tinted windows to make a left turn at an intersection.

He said "no words" were spoken as the Chrysler began to pass their car and a man, whom he identified as Ramos, brandished a chrome-plated gun from inside a partly opened window of the vehicle.

Bologna said he could see that his father, who had turned his head, had a facial expression that seemed to be saying, "Why would he be mugging us?"

Bologna said he then heard at least three gunshots.

Afterward, he said, "I was in the street going crazy, because I didn't know what was happening" to his fathers and brothers.

"It was like a movie," he said.

Anthony and Michael Bologna were pronounced dead at the scene. Matthew was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he died two days later.

The preliminary hearing is expected to last several more days, after which Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson will decide whether Ramos must stand trial on the murder charges.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Marla Zamora, Bologna said he couldn't tell whether there was an additional person in the Chrysler.

Anthony Bologna was returning from the picnic to go to his night job as a manager at a supermarket in San Mateo, his son said.

In later testimony today, Assistant San Francisco Medical Examiner Venus Azar told the judge that Anthony Bologna died of a gunshot wound in the left arm and torso, Michael Bologna was killed by a gunshot wound in the back and Matthew Bologna died from multiple gunshot wounds, including two in the head.

Surviving family members also include Bologna's mother and sister, who returned separately from Fairfield and were not in the Honda during the shootings.

In April, the family members filed a civil lawsuit against the city of San Francisco in Superior Court for allegedly contributing to the deaths through its sanctuary policy.

The lawsuit alleges that Ramos, who was born in El Salvador, was in the country illegally and had a history of violence and several previous contacts with San Francisco police as a minor, but that the sanctuary policy kept police and juvenile probation officers from reporting him to federal immigration authorities for deportation.

www.sfexaminer.com

We heard so much about how blessed the United States was that "family values did not stop when the ILLEGALS crossed our southern borders" from our last President; we could see their "family values" in action murder, rape, and theft among others of their values in our court system.

Sanctuary policies don't make much sense. It's as if San Francisco's city government is saying that it's okay if Americans are brutally murdered every now and then, just as long as illegal aliens feel comfortable in their illegal presence.

Stop the nonsense.