Life plus 25 years for 20-year-old

A 20-year-old Fallbrook gangster was sentenced to life in prison, plus 25 years, in San Diego Superior Court on November 7.

Judge Blaine Bowman spoke to Sergio Huerta Ramirez, telling him to notice that none of his gangster cohorts came to court for his sentencing. “I see this so often,” the judge said. “Your gang has forgotten about you.”

Bowman wished aloud that 13-year-old kids could see this type of sentencing, in which a violent, young gangster is sent to prison for the rest of his life. “This is a perfect example of why kids need to stay out of gangs.”

During a three-week jury trial this past July, some witnesses were so fearful they suffered almost complete memory loss. Others showed courage.

Ramirez was declared guilty of attempted murder and personally using a handgun in the attack on a young man whom he had known since childhood. The victim survived the January 2013 assassination attempt, with a shattered vertebrae and three slugs still in his body. During the trial, the victim testified against Ramirez.

Prosecutor Cal Logan asserted that the attempted killing was in response to the victim’s efforts to withdraw from the Varrio Fallbrook Locos gang.