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.

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