Ramirez v. State
| Decision Date | 27 January 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. S13A1323.,S13A1323. |
| Citation | 294 Ga. 440,754 S.E.2d 325 |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
| Parties | RAMIREZ v. The STATE. |
294 Ga. 440
754 S.E.2d 325
RAMIREZ
v.
The STATE.
No. S13A1323.
Supreme Court of Georgia.
Jan. 27, 2014.
[754 S.E.2d 326]
Sharon Lee Hopkins, Duluth, for appellant.
David Keith Keeton, Asst. Dist. Atty., Daniel J. Porter, Dist. Atty., Lawrenceville, Samuel S. Olens, Atty. Gen., Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellee.
BLACKWELL, Justice.
Following trial by a Gwinnett County jury, Kenneth Victor Ramirez was convicted of the murder of Thomas Branch. Ramirez appeals, contending only that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction. We conclude, however, that the evidence is legally sufficient, and so, we affirm the judgment of conviction.1
Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence shows that Ramirez, Christopher Emery, and Wilfredo Rivera lived in an apartment complex in Lawrenceville. Branch lived in the same complex. On the evening of March 12, 2011, Ramirez, Emery, and Rivera accompanied Branch to a nearby convenience store to buy beer.2 Ramirez and Rivera then went with Branch to the apartment in which Branch lived, where they were joined by Ronald Sheppard. As Branch spoke with his guests, Rivera—at the direction of Ramirez—struck Branch with a flashlight. Both Rivera and Ramirez then hit Branch about the head with a frying pan. After beating Branch with the pan, Ramirez began to strangle Branch with a belt. Around that time, Emery appeared at the apartment, where he saw Ramirez strangling Branch. Complaining that the effort to strangle Branch was “taking so long,” Ramirez asked for a knife, and Emery left the apartment, obtained a knife, and returned. Ramirez used the knife to stab Branch in the neck. A neighbor called for law enforcement after hearing that Ramirez was killing “the old man upstairs,” and when officers arrived, they found Branch dead in his apartment.
Investigators interviewed Ramirez, and at first, he denied that he even knew Branch. He then, however, began to cry and acknowledged that he knew Branch and was present when Branch was killed, although he denied that he participated in the killing. Ramirez, Emery, and Rivera all were charged with murder and other crimes in connection with the killing—Sheppard was not charged—and Rivera and Emery later pled guilty to lesser charges.3 Both Rivera and Emery testified
at the trial of Ramirez. Sheppard also testified at trial. In addition, a jailhouse informant testified that Ramirez had admitted that he and “a juvenile” had beat an “old man” with a pan, strangled him with a belt, and stabbed him in the neck in order to “get down with ... [t]he Rollin 60 Crips” gang.
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