Young murderer to serve 25 to life
Salvadoran, 23, convicted in two shootings outside South Side bar
Thursday, April 29, 2010 2:55 AM
By Bruce Cadwallader and John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A native of El Salvador working here illegally was convicted yesterday of murder, attempted murder and felonious assault for fatally shooting a man and wounding a woman outside a South Side bar on Nov. 15, 2008.

A Franklin County, OH jury deliberated about eight hours before convicting Javier Gonzales Humberto after a weeklong trial in Common Pleas Court.

Judge Richard A. Frye sentenced the 23-year-old Humberto to a combined prison term of 25 years to life. After prison, Humberto is to be deported to El Salvador.

Columbus police gang-unit members said the shooting followed a dispute shortly before 11 p.m. in the El Gato Negro bar at 2110 Lockbourne Rd. Two men began to argue over the results of a soccer match. Shots were fired in the parking lot after they were thrown out of the club.

Ramon Ramos, 27, died after being shot in the head and abdomen. Angel Devilbiss, 28, recovered from gunshot wounds in her arm, thigh and lower back. She testified that she did not see the shooter because her back was turned.

Ramos' brother and a bouncer at the bar told both police and the jury that the shooter was Humberto, a carpet installer formerly of Franklin Lane on the North Side.

Assistant County Prosecutors Elizabeth Geraghty and Jason Manning said a police informant who lived with a gang-member friend of Humberto's turned over the murder weapon wrapped in a bandana a day later.

A police detective said the shooting was gang-related and that all the combatants except Humberto were members of a street gang known as MS-13. The gang was said to originate in El Salvador.

Humberto was among the patrons at El Gato Negro that night but was not involved in the dispute in the club or the shooting outside, said his attorney, Javier Armengau. Humberto's DNA was not on a hat the gunman dropped or on the bandana in which the gun was wrapped, Armengau said.

Humberto's fingerprints were not on any of the evidence, including shell casings at the scene, he said. "This kid is not only not guilty, he's innocent."

Humberto will appeal the convictions and maintained his innocence yesterday through an interpreter.

bcadwallader@dispatch.com
jfutty@dispatch.com

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