Edwin Ramos Sentenced in SF to Three Life Terms

The suspected MS-13 gang member is sentencedf to life, but his attorney wants a new trial.

Edwin Ramos, the undocumented immigrant convicted in the June 2008 gang slaying of a San Francisco man and his two sons,  was sentenced to three lifetime terms in prison on Monday.

Superior Court Judge Charges Haines said the 25-year-old Ramos of El Sobrante  "brutally and senselessly murdered" Anthony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, on June 22, 2008. The family, on their way home from a barbecue, were shot at a street corner in the Excelsior District because they were mistaken for rival gang members, according to prosecutors.

Ramos admitted to being in the car but said he did not fire the shots. When he addressed the court, he insisted he was the "fall guy" for a leader of an MS-13 gang faction, and he thought about the Bolognas daily.

The sole witness to the shooting is Andrew Bologna, who was 18 at the time of the shootings and testified that Ramos gave his father a mean look before killing him. A jury found Ramos guilty on May 9 of first-degree murder, but could not decide if he fired the gun, according to reports.

On Monday, Ramos apologized to the family. "There's not a day that goes by that that's not on my mind," he said. "If I could go back in time and trade places with any of them, I would."

Last week, however, a different tone was struck: it was emotional outbursts from the widow of Anthony Bologna as well as confusing juror instructions that led to Ramos' conviction, his attorney said, as she moved to request a retrial.

Danielle Bologna's "devastating" cries of anguish during the trial, two jurors' refusals to deliberate, and another juror who did "outside independent" research on the case and discussed it in the jury room all made it impossible for Ramos to have a fair trial, attorney Marla Zamora said in court filings.

The filings had no impact on Monday's sentencing.

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