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A judge rules that the victim's ring was obtained improperly. The appeal of the decision could delay the trial for months.
By CARY DAVIS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2002
NEW PORT RICHEY -- A circuit judge on Monday threw out a key piece of evidence in the case against Nathan Joe Ramirez, accused of pulling the trigger in one of Pasco County's most brutal crimes in recent memory.
Prosecutors said the ruling was another setback in their quest to convict Ramirez of the 1995 slaying of an elderly New Port Richey widow.
Circuit Judge William Webb ruled that prosecutors could not introduce at trial a ring that Ramirez allegedly stole from the murder victim and later handed over to investigators. Webb said a Pasco sheriff's detective had obtained the ring without "voluntary consent" from Ramirez, who was 17 at the time, or a search warrant from a judge.
Prosecutor Mike Halkitis said the ring is the state's second-best piece of evidence in the case, behind Ramirez's confession, which was ruled inadmissible in 1999 by the Florida Supreme Court.
"The confession was tops, the ring was second," Halkitis said.
Appeal, a move that likely will delay Ramirez's trial for months. Lawyers were set to pick a jury Monday when the judge issued his ruling.
Ramirez, 24, is charged with first-degree murder and faces a possible death sentence in the March 1995 slaying of Mildred Boroski, who was killed the night of her 71st birthday. She was raped in her Seven Springs home, taken to a nearby field and shot twice in the head.
Ramirez and a friend, Jonathan Grimshaw, each confessed to the murder. Grimshaw is serving a life sentence. Ramirez, who admitted firing the fatal shots, was convicted in 1996 and sentenced to death. But the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Ramirez, ruling that detectives had tricked him into confessing by not properly informing him of his rights.
When detectives first visited him at his house, Ramirez denied any knowledge of Boroski's three-stone ring, according to court records. But Pasco sheriff's detectives had taped a telephone conversation between Ramirez and Grimshaw during which the Gulf High School classmates discussed the whereabouts of some of the evidence, including the stolen ring. Confronted with the contents of the tape, Ramirez handed over the ring to investigators.
"The seizure of the ring . . . was not the result of a free and voluntary consent by the defendant when the totality of the circumstances is examined," Webb wrote in his ruling. One of the circumstances Webb cited was the fact that Ramirez was home alone with no access to his parents.
Webb's ruling, if it withstands appeal, leaves prosecutors with a circumstantial case supplemented by testimony from current and former inmates who say they overhead Ramirez confess to Boroski's murder.
"We've had enough evidence carved out of this case," Halkitis said in explaining why prosecutors decided to appeal Webb's ruling.
Prosecutors have no direct physical evidence linking Ramirez to the crime. However, they have a witness who has testified that Ramirez gave him two guns after the murder, one of which has been identified as the weapon used to shoot Boroski.
-- Cary Davis covers courts in west Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6236. His e-mail address is cbdavis@sptimes.com.