Vivian Ho,Jaxon Van Derbeken
Thursday, May 10, 2012
SF Gate:
A man with a long gang history was convicted Wednesday of the mistaken-identity murders of a San Francisco father and his two sons, the culmination of one of the most notorious crimes in the city in recent years.
Edwin Ramos, 25, at first was still as the San Francisco Superior Court jury returned guilty verdicts on three first-degree murder counts in the killings of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. Soon, however, he began to cry.
Tony Bologna's widow, Danielle, who was in court for most of the trial, wept throughout the session and sobbed hardest when the court clerk read the names of her husband and sons.
"Yes, yes, God," she cried as she heard the verdicts.
Her son, Andrew Bologna, now 21, was the only survivor of the shootings in the Excelsior neighborhood on a bright Sunday afternoon, June 22, 2008. Tony Bologna was driving his sons home from a family gathering in Fairfield when, prosecutors said, Ramos mistook at least one of the young men for a Mission District gang rival and fired from another car.
"He didn't get me," Andrew Bologna whispered to his mother in consolation Wednesday.
'Justice' shirts
Several members of the Bologna family, including Danielle and Andrew, wore white T-shirts with "Finally justice is served" on the front and the victims' names on the back.
Outside court, Tony Bologna's mother, Lena Bologna, cried as she said, "All I kiss at night are the pictures of my son and my two grandsons."
The jury heard three months of testimony before beginning deliberations May 2. Ramos faces a maximum term of life in state prison without parole when he is sentenced June 4.
The case first drew widespread attention for its random brutality. It became a national story when The Chronicle reported that city juvenile-justice officials relying on San Francisco's sanctuary-city policy had twice shielded Ramos, a suspected illegal immigrant from El Salvador, from possible deportation after he committed gang-related crimes as a minor.
Gunning for a rival
Assistant District Attorney Harry Dorfman, the lead prosecutor on the case, portrayed Ramos as a seemingly charming but cold-blooded killer who shot the Bolognas in a misguided attempt to avenge a compatriot in the MS-13 gang. The friend had been shot and wounded earlier that day.
With no murder weapon or ballistics tests to link Ramos to the shootings, the prosecution relied heavily on the testimony of Andrew Bologna. He said the family had almost gotten home from the Fairfield gathering when Ramos blocked their car at Congdon and Maynard streets with his Chrysler 300, then rolled alongside and opened fire.
Ramos' legal team, headed by Marla Zamora, said he had left gang life and associated with MS-13 members only to sell them drugs. Zamora said Ramos was the fall guy for the real killer, Wilfredo "Flaco" Reyesruano, the now-vanished leader of a faction of the MS-13 gang.
Ramos, who took the stand in his own defense, testified that he had been driving Reyesruano to the hospital to visit their wounded gang friend but had gotten lost in the Excelsior trying to find the freeway. When they encountered the Bolognas, he said, Reyesruano yelled gang epithets and, without warning, opened fire.
Jury hung on 2 counts
Besides the murder counts, the jury convicted Ramos of the attempted murder of Andrew Bologna, along with various firearms and gang enhancements. However, the panel hung on a murder conspiracy count, as well as a charge accusing Ramos of firing into an occupied vehicle.
That indicates "there was a question in the mind of at least one juror" on those counts, Dorfman noted. "But because Andrew Bologna told the police right away what he saw, told this jury what he saw, I was comfortable absolutely presenting his testimony that he saw Mr. Ramos fire the gun."
Jurors left the Hall of Justice without commenting.
In a statement, Zamora reiterated that Reyesruano was the true murderer.
"We are surprised that the jury could not agree on whether Mr. Ramos actually fired the gun, yet still chose to convict on first-degree murder," she said. "Justice has not been delivered to the city of San Francisco nor the victims so long as the killer, Wilfredo Reyes, is still on the streets."
Criminal history
In portraying him as an innocent, the defense downplayed Ramos' history as a juvenile offender.
Ramos was not in the United States legally at the time he was identified as one of three alleged MS-13 members who beat up a man on a Muni bus in the Mission District in 2003. Prosecutors told the jury that Ramos and his colleagues had been "checking" passengers to determine what gang they were affiliated with.
Instead of referring him to federal authorities for possible deportation, San Francisco juvenile authorities placed Ramos in a shelter and later released him to his mother in April 2004.
Four days after his release, he assaulted a pregnant woman and her brother, and was sentenced to the city's Log Cabin Ranch for felony attempted robbery. He was released in February 2005, again without city juvenile authorities reporting him to federal immigration officials.
The Juvenile Probation Department had ordered employees not to report minors to immigration officials under the agency's interpretation of San Francisco's sanctuary policy, which barred city officials from cooperating with deportations.
Change in policy
The revelations about Ramos' history of juvenile offenses fueled a controversy over the policy, and ultimately led then-Mayor Gavin Newsom to order that all undocumented juvenile felony suspects be reported to immigration officials.
The policy has since been eased to allow authorities to exercise discretion in deciding whether to report offenders.
Danielle Bologna sued the city in 2009, claiming that officials' interpretation of the sanctuary policy had led to the killings of her husband and sons. A judge threw out the suit, ruling that officials were not responsible for any crimes Ramos may have committed.
In an interview in the district attorney's office after the verdicts were read, Danielle Bologna clutched photos of her two sons posing with her husband, whom she called her best friend. She has entered a witness protection program with her son and a daughter.
"My biggest emotion," she said, "is looking at the most beautiful smile on my son's face, and to be able to see him say, 'Mom, it's over,' and to see my daughter say, 'You know what, Mom? They're watching over us.' "
San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Ellen Huet contributed to this report. Vivian Ho and Jaxon Van Derbeken are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Twitter: @VivianHo, @jvanderbeken. vho@sfchronicle.com, jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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