Posted on 10/15/2013 2:45:30 PM PDT by mdittmar
YAKIMA, Wash. — A convicted murderer seeking to have his 80-year sentence reduced was instead given more prison time by a Yakima County Superior Court judge this afternoon.
Joel Ramos, 34, is currently serving four consecutive 20-year terms for his role in the bludgeoning and stabbing deaths of Michael and Lynn Skelton, both 34, and their sons Jason, 12, and Bryan, 6. The family was killed in their Outlook-area home in the Lower Yakima Valley in 1993, when Ramos and co-defendant Miguel Gaitan were both 14.
Ramos’ attorney had suggested her client should serve almost 27 years — three concurrent 20-year sentences and a top sentence of 26 years, eight months for the death of the youngest victim.
Instead, Judge Douglas Federspiel increased the sentence to 85 years.
“In weighing these actions, I believe they were monstrous,” Federspiel said. “The punishment is just. It protects the public.”
Earlier story:
A Yakima County judge is weighing the fate of a man accused of taking part in killing an Outlook family of four in 1993.
In arguments this morning before Superior Court Judge Douglas Federspiel, a deputy prosecutor asked the court to reaffirm Joel Ramos’ original 80-year sentence.
Ramos’ attorney, meanwhile, suggested her client should serve almost 27 years — three concurrent 20-year sentences and a top sentence of 26 years, eight months for the death of the youngest victim.
Federspiel is expected to rule on the recommendations this afternoon.
Ramos, 34, is currently serving four consecutive 20-year terms for his role in the bludgeoning and stabbing deaths of Michael and Lynn Skelton, both 34, and their sons Jason, 12, and Bryan, 6.
Ramos and co-defendant Miguel Gaitan were both 14 at the time of the slayings, which sent shock waves through the Yakima Valley for its savagery and fears it was a gang initiation.
Ramos got a new day in court due to a technical glitch in his probation — not set to take effect until 2061 — that courts have interpreted as opening to the door to a full-blown resentencing hearing.
His request gained further momentum last year, when the U.S. Supreme Court banned mandatory life sentences for juveniles convicted of murder.
The decision follows a series of Supreme Court rulings based on developing brain science that has drawn an increasingly bright line between juveniles and adults. In 2005, the high court banned execution of anyone for crimes committed while younger than 18.
During a hearing Monday in the courtroom of Yakima County Superior Court Judge Douglas Federspiel, Ramos wept as he apologized for the slayings.
“Words cannot express how remorseful or shameful I feel,” he added, crying as he acknowledged that what he did “I can never take it back.”
Gaitan took his case to trial, was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
The Supreme Court’s new ban on mandatory life sentences for juveniles did not automatically commute life sentences. Instead, the ruling means only that inmates will have the opportunity to seek reductions.
Yakima County prosecutors said Gaitan is expected to challenge his sentence in the near future.
I always suspected Outlook was dangerous. I think MS-Word could be used to murder as well.
“I always suspected Outlook was dangerous. I think MS-Word could be used to murder as well.”
Don’t forget PowerPoint....
Junior officers in all branches of the military are deadly with a PP presentation.
Doesn't the Geneva Conventions cover this area? If not, they should immediately be reconvened to do so. On the other hand with these also being found in civilian hands (Oh the horror), maybe it should be a UN matter?
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