[Deathpenalty]death penalty news --- ARIZ.

[Joerg Sommer]

death penalty news

March 5, 2005


ARIZONA:

Mom avoids death penalty in son's murder

A jury on Thursday spared the life of a mother they'd found guilty of 
murdering her 19-month-old child.

Candy Ramirez will face Judge Warren Granville of Maricopa County Superior 
Court again on April 8 to learn if she will spend her life in prison or if 
she will be eligible for parole on the murder count after 35 years.

Jurors returned the verdict less than 45 minutes after they began 
deliberating, following a morning of statements from Ramirez's family.

"I was surprised they came back so quickly with life," said her attorney, 
Herman Alcantar.

"I think she was relieved," he said of his client. "She thought for sure 
she was going to receive the death penalty."

Ramirez, 31, will also be sentenced on one count of child abuse, which 
carries a sentence of 10 to 24 years in prison, which would have to be 
served after her murder sentence. Under Arizona law, once a jury decides 
against the death penalty, which happens infrequently, the judge must 
decide whether to impose a sentence of natural life in prison with no 
chance of release or parole, or life in prison with the possibility of 
parole after 35 years. But given the child-abuse sentence, the earliest 
Ramirez could get out of prison is in 45 years.

The trial dealt with charges of first-degree "felony" murder and two counts 
of child abuse in the March 2001 death of her son, Alex. Prosecutors 
theorized that Ramirez had thrown the child into his crib at her Phoenix 
home and then failed to take him to the hospital. Ramirez has yet to stand 
trial on three other counts of child abuse that were separated from the 
murder trial.

Adam Tarango, the father of another of Ramirez's children, pleaded guilty 
to manslaughter in the death and testified against Ramirez in exchange for 
a 5½-year prison sentence. Their daughter, who was present at the 
sentencing Thursday, also testified against her mother.

Felony murder means that the death occurred during the commission of 
another felony, in this case either of the two child-abuse counts. And 
although the jury on Feb. 16 found Ramirez guilty of the murder and of 
withholding medical attention, it could not agree that Ramirez actually 
threw the child into his crib.

Neither jurors, nor Ramirez's relatives would comment.

(source: The Arizona Republic)