A Fort Bend County court has sentenced Vicente Jesus Ramirez to 10 years in prison on intoxication manslaughter charges.
The 30-year-old Houston man was convicted by a jury in connection with a head-on collision he caused two years ago.
RAMIREZ
According to Assistant District Attorney Chris Delozier, Ramirez was westbound on McHard Road near the intersection of South Post Oak in Houston when he attempted to pass another vehicle in a no passing zone. Ramirez struck Ronald Dobson head-on even though skid marks indicated that Dobson tried to avoid the collision.
Evidence collected at the scene indicated that Ramirez made no attempt to avoid the accident.
Dobson later died at Ben Taub Hospital.
Evidence presented at trial revealed Ramirez had a blood alcohol level of .30, which is almost four times the legal limit.
Ramirez admitted to drinking five 23-ounce beers earlier that day at a restaurant. He also admitted to trying to pass another car.
“The victim’s family lost a husband, father and grandfather due to this defendant’s careless actions,” Delozier said. “The strength of the evidence and testimony resulted in a guilty verdict, a 10 year sentence and this community’s decisive opinion on driving while intoxicated.”
The case was tried in the 400th District Court before Judge Clifford J. Vacek.
Intoxicated Manslaughter in Ramirez’ case was a second-degree felony punishable by 2-20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.
Because Ramirez’ vehicle was deemed a deadly weapon, he must serve at least one-half of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Well…I agree that this was a terrible and entirely avoidable crime and in my estimation murder, but it was an easy one to process. The DA should not earn votes on shooting this “fish in a barrel”
Why can we not get our DA to accept large corruption cases that involve developers and local elected officials, involving conflicts of interest, open records, population manipulation, SLAPP suits and other egregious white collar crimes? We are all held hostage by this type of ubiquitous crime. When I want my judges and DA to be “tough on crime,” I want them to protect us all from white collar criminals who rob us all as surely as the bank-robber who was shot this week.
See everyone, this guy was 4 times the limit. Not just .08, he wasn’t even close. 30 yrs old? Something tells me this is not the first time for this guy to be in trouble. Where is this guy from? What did he do for a living? Was his insurance up to date? What was his driving record? Does he vote? How fast was he going? What restaurant?
It is amazing how low the penalty is for killing someone is. You take away their life and only lose 5-10 years of your own. No wonder people don’t take it seriously.