U.S. v. Ramirez, CR-05-71-B-W.
| Decision Date | 03 July 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. CR-05-71-B-W.,CR-05-71-B-W. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. Cosme Sanchez RAMIREZ, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maine |
David W. Bate, Law Office of David W. Bate, Bangor, ME, for Defendant.
F. Todd Lowell, Office of the U.S. Attorney, Bangor, ME, for Plaintiff.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
In 1980, Cosme Sanchez Ramirez, then a teenager, was forced to leave Cuba for the United States at the point of a bayonet. A true stranger in a strange land, Mr. Ramirez has led an unfortunate and chaotic life in the United States. On April 13, 2005, by this time a felon, he found his way to Bangor, Maine, where he entered a pawn shop and tried to buy a High Point .380 pistol. Following indictment on federal gun charges, he proceeded to a bench trial, asserting an insanity defense. The Court concludes that the Government has proven each of the elements of each count beyond a reasonable doubt and that Mr. Ramirez has not sustained his burden of proof on the insanity defense. The Court finds him guilty as charged.
On September 13, 2005, a federal grand jury indicted Mr. Ramirez,1 alleging violations of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (felon in possession), 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6) (), and 18 U.S.C. § 911 (). The parties presented evidence over a five day period in January 2007, filed subsequent memoranda, and made final arguments on June 11, 2007.
On April 13, 2005, Mr. Ramirez entered Frati the Pawnbrokers (Frati), a federally licensed firearms dealer, in Bangor, Maine, and expressed an interest in purchasing a gun. He completed ATF Form 4473 and returned the form to Mr. Frati; he also provided a Social Security card as identification, which Mr. Frati photocopied and retained with Form 4473.2 While inside, Mr. Ramirez handled two guns: a Jimenez Arms 9 millimeter and a High Point .380 pistol.3 Of the two guns, Mr. Ramirez expressed a preference for the High Point .380 pistol because it was smaller. Mr. Frati testified that Mr. Ramirez had made statements to the effect that guns "are supposed to be small so you can hide them in your clothes or put them in your pocket," so that "if a person walked near you or a police officer came in contact with you he wouldn't be aroused or think that you are armed in any way." Tr. II at 30:9-11 (Docket # 185).4 Another patron in Frati's testified that he heard Mr. Ramirez say that he "wanted to be able to hide a weapon on him so that no one would know ... [so that] he could get the man before the man got him." Tr. II at 57:12-15. Finally, a cabdriver testified that Mr. Ramirez told him he wanted to get a gun for protection.5
After Mr. Ramirez left the store, promising to return with proper photo identification, Mr. Frati submitted Form 4473 to the National Instant Check System (NICS). Among other information, Mr. Ramirez wrote "No" in response to a question asking whether he had been convicted in any court of a felony;6 he provided Miami, Florida as his place of birth, and he wrote that his country of citizenship was the United States. During the phone call NICS initially responded "delayed," but then denied approval.
On cross-examination, Mr. Frati acknowledged that when Mr. Ramirez first returned Form 4473, he had neglected to answer question 10, which asks "What is your country of citizenship?" Gov't Ex. 3. Mr. Frati pointed this out to Mr. Ramirez who inserted "Yes, USA." into the blank space. In addition, Mr. Frati helped Mr. Ramirez to spell "Penobscot" County. Other than that assistance, Mr. Frati testified that Mr. Ramirez completed the form entirely on his own. Mr. Ramirez also marked that he was "American Indian or Alaska Native." Gov't Ex. 3.
Agent Erik Tall, of the ATF, obtained the original Form 4473 completed by Mr. Ramirez and the photocopy of the Social Security card. Agent Tall completed an Interstate Identification Index check, which is a national database that keeps track of criminal convictions. The check revealed that Mr. Ramirez was a felon. Agent Tall then requested and received certified documents that verified felony convictions. Gov't Exs. 8-11.7 Agent Tall further testified that, when he went to arrest Mr. Ramirez at a motel, he asked him if he had a Social Security card and Mr. Ramirez denied having one. Among the items collected from the nightstand in the motel room, however, was a Social Security card in the name of Cosme Sanchez Ramirez.
Dwight Glidden, a deportation agent with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office, also testified. Agent Glidden stated that he is primarily responsible for monitoring the status of aliens in the United States, that is, individuals who, by definition, are not United States citizens or nationals. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Bureau maintains an alien file for Mr. Ramirez. The file reveals that Mr. Ramirez was born in Havana, Cuba in 1963, and that he first arrived in the United States in 1980. The file reflects that he applied for asylum and after his application was denied, he was ordered excluded and deported back to Cuba. Cuba, however, has refused to accept persons who arrived in the United States from the Mariel Boatlift in 1980, and Mr. Ramirez's deportation order was never executed. Mr. Ramirez has never been a United States citizen.
Mr. Ramirez's alien file contains evidence that Mr. Ramirez knew that he was a citizen of Cuba. On January 28, 2005, Mr. Ramirez documented his citizenship as "Cuba" on a federal form.8 Gov't Ex. 17-A. On March 2, 2005, on his application for employment authorization, Mr. Ramirez again listed Cuba as his country of citizenship. Gov't Ex. 17-C. When Agent Glidden met Mr. Ramirez in March 2005, he instructed him to carry his alien registration card with him at all times. The alien registration card further confirms that Mr. Ramirez is a citizen of Cuba.9
Mr. Ramirez testified that he was first hospitalized when he was thirteen years old. According to him, two or three weeks after being hospitalized, he escaped during outdoor recreational time. Mr. Ramirez stated that when he was placed in the hospital, a judge ordered a mental health evaluation. Tr. II at 116: 10-14.
Mr. Ramirez recounted two instances in which he had tried to hurt himself while still in Cuba. When he was seven years old, he took a bullet cartridge and stuck it in his foot with a hammer to escape teasing at school for not wearing shoes. Tr. II at 116:21-25. When he was either eight or nine, he threw himself from a second floor Tr. II at 117:13-20. He testified that the thought — to throw himself off of the roof — just suddenly came into his mind. Mr. Ramirez explained that there Tr. II at 118:18-22.
Mr. Ramirez was part of the Mariel Boat Lift from Cuba in 1980. When asked whether he knew why he was forced to' leave Cuba, he replied:
Because in Cuba, I will tell you the truth, Fidel Castro doesn't want anyone who has mental problems, doesn't want anyone who has no education, doesn't want criminals, doesn't want homosexuals, doesn't want lesbians. Castro wants a perfect place. That's why they threw me out of Cuba and had me come here.
Mr. Ramirez recounted various instances in which he had tried to hurt himself after he arrived in the United States and then received mental health treatment.
In 1984, Mr. Ramirez was sent to a hospital in California for cutting himself on the wrist. At some point in 1993, in New York, Mr. Ramirez began feeling like dead people were coming after him and following him everywhere. As recounted by Mr. Ramirez, he first went to a government building in Manhattan to seek help or deportation to Cuba, but then went running down into the subway. The police caught him in the subway and brought him to Bellevue Hospital. He was transferred to a hospital in Brookline, due to a shortage of beds, and recalls remaining at the second hospital around five or six weeks. In 1999, Mr. Ramirez was hospitalized in North Carolina, after he tried to "jump over the turnpike."10 Tr. II at 137:25; 138:1-5.
Mr. Ramirez also spoke about two incidents in Virginia in 2000, one in which he threw himself in front of a car and the other in which he laid down on the road waiting for a car to drive over him. On the first occasion, after the police arrived, they took him to the hospital, where he maintained he stayed for approximately three weeks. Sometime between 2001 and 2002, in Atlanta, Georgia, he heard voices "telling me to lie down on the train tracks, and it was better to die than continue to live. ..." Tr. II at 130:24-25. Mr. Ramirez stated that he was hospitalized in Atlanta for three days following this incident. Mr. Ramirez said that on another occasion in Georgia, "I grabbed the — the bottle of pills and I tried to — I took them all with a bottle of alcohol — liquor to kill myself." Tr. II at 132:2-16.
Mr. Ramirez was staying with a friend in Portland, Maine for about forty days before coming to Bangor. He testified that, during that period, he did not feel well, was suffering from depression, and "had a lot of hallucinations and []...
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