Murder of Glady Ramirez Blog 5

On Wednesday, April 17, 1980, Police Officers and the Fire Department were dispatched to 374 Eland for a house fire. When the Fire Department arrived, they found the Complainant inside the house, burned and deceased. Dr. Ruben Santos of the Medical Examiner's Office. They performed an autopsy on the Complainant. The results of the autopsy showed the Complainant had also been stabbed and strangled along with being burned, and the death was ruled a Homicide. Gladys Jean Ramirez was only 29 years old at the time of her death. In 2004 this case was solved it took 24 years for this case to be looked at in consideration. In 2004, a former San Antonio resident who was residing in Virginia saw Gladys Ramirez's case on the SAPD Cold Case web page. The witness came forward and provided detectives with a statement that identified the husband of Gladys Ramirez as the suspect in the murder. Detectives obtained statements from two additional witnesses, and on October 7, 2004, SAPD Homicide Detective George Saidler obtained a Murder Warrant for Jose Angel Ramirez. The husband of Gladys Ramirez. Jose Ramirez was arrested the same day, and is currently awaiting trial. I believe that the criminal justice system has many flaws on approaching cases. How could this case go unsolved for 24 years and not catch the person who stabbed Glady Ramirez. Her husband is finally being put on trial and I don't get how that didn't suspect him in the first place. The thing i would like to change about the criminal justice system is that there are so many steps in proving that the defendant is guilty. I believe that it is too confusing to go through each step before putting someone on trial.

Death Penalty Blog 4

In the Washington Post by Rogger Tanner says the death penalty deters crime. A 2003 study he co-authored, and a 2006 study that re-examined the data, found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, and commuting a death sentence means five more homicides. "The results are robust, they don't really go away," he said. "I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) _ what am I going to do, hide them?" I believe that the death penalty is a violation to the 8th amendment but there has been many cases that shows it deters crime. Because if murderers know that the death penalty is legalized in the state they are living in they might second guess themselves. It is also shown it costs more money to put someone to death then to put someone in jail. There are many debates that go back in forth about the death penalty saying that that person is a threat to society. It might be a violation to human rights but over many years cases have shown it deters crime and that is why it is still in use today.

Atwater v. City of Lago Vista ( Blog 3)

 In March of 1997, Gail Atwater was stopped by Lago Vista police for not wearing a seatbelt. Neither her or her two children were wearing a seatbelt. Seatbelts are required by the Texas Law. According to reports from eyewitnesses, the officer verbally berated Atwater in a raised voice. Atwater requested that the officer lower his voice in a polite manner. The police officer yelled back "You're going to jail." According to records, Atwater remained calm, did not act in a suspicious manner, did not pose a threat to the officer, and was not engaged in any illegal conduct other than failing to wear a seatbelt. She was arrested and was held in jail for one hour and was released on $310.00 bond and later paid a $50.00 fine for failing to wear a seatbelt. Atwater and her husband filed a report saying this was a violation of the 4th amendment. She said that it was unfair to put someone in jail for knowing that not wearing a seatbelt was only a fine punishment. I believe that this was not a violation of the 4th amendment because Atwater talked back to the police officer and even if he was yelling at her she probably would just only have to pay a fine. The police officer is just following the laws and saying it is illegal to not wear a seatbelt in a car in the state of Texas. But if i was a defense attoney for Atwater I would fight for the fact that she was put in jail and that she shouldn't have been. Also that the police officer was using his authority to highly and didn;t need to scream at Mrs Atwater. Also the fact that he didn't even have probable cause for getting so angry is another reason to argue in court.  I believe in this case was not a violation to the 4th Amendment.

Blog Assignment #2

In San Antonio Texas, Police Department has come up with great strategies using community policing that has been used for many years. They have done this through community services, School service programs, Crime prevention programs and etc. In 1995 the police department created a unique Community Policing unit, The San Antonio Fear Free Environment Unit. This unit has involvement programs. This strategy is highly effective because it has strong partnerships between the police and the community, using the method of problem solving that idetifies the problems that are a concern to community and change management within the police organization to increase community involvement. SAPD central core is the SAFFE ( San Antonio Fear Free Environment) Unit. The program first started out with 60 officers and supervisors, then enlarged in 1996 with an additional 40 officers. The SAFFE Unit consists of officers who focus on identifying, evaluating and resolving community crime problems with the cooperation and participation of community residents. These officers have to maintain a day to day interaction with residents and businesses within their assigned beats, in order to prevent crimes before they happen.  This strategy does not infringe upon individual rights because this strategy is mainly used to commubnicate with the community being friendly. I believe this strategy will continue to be effective because if the community has respect for the officers and trust the officers they will continue to have a safe environment. San Anonia has developed a well production community policing strategy.

Blog Assignment 1

Dad who tattooed his seven year old son of a gang symbol on his hip. He is now getting no mayhem charge and carries a seven year sentence. He was first faced with a life sentence but on Friday the judge said the act was not aggravated mayhem, the charge normally reserved for cippling attacks. Enrique Gonzalez and his friend Travis Groman will only have a seven year sentence. Fresno County Superior Court Judge Hillary Chittick questioned if a small tattoo is a permanent and painful disifigurement and if they deserve a life sentence prisionment. They decided to look it over and it says in California that applying a tattoo to a child under 18 is a misdemeanor and that carries only a six- month sentence. Also the father said the kid wanted the tattoo and the seven year old didn't back away from it. This doesn't mean anything because you have to learn to say no to your kids. While this case was being battled in court they decided that this crime would only be sentenced for seven years not a life time. I think this is a good enough time even though a tattoo is inhuman and cruel to do to someone who is under seven years old but it doesn't require a life sentence.