A defendant in a child molestation trial in Jones County last week entered a negotiated guilty plea with the state just before the victim was called to the witness stand.
Vincent Ramirez was in Jones County Superior Court Sept. 24 facing one count of aggravated child molestation and a second child molestation charge.
The trial started at 9 a.m. with the mother and stepfather of the victim taking the witness stand. The court adjourned for lunch and was preparing to reconvene when Jones County Assistant District Attorney Cara Fiore received information that Ramirez wanted to accept the state’s offer and plead guilty. The offer was 20 years for the lesser-included offense of child molestation for count one and 20 years for the second charge. The counts will run concurrently for a total of 20 years with the first 13 years served in prison.
If Ramirez had been found guilty of the charge of aggravated molestation, he was facing the maximum charge of life in prison plus 20 years.
Ramirez was represented in the case by public defender Tom O’Donnell.
Fiore said she was willing to accept the plea to keep the victim, who is now 9 years old, from having to relive the traumatic events on the witness stand in front of 14 strangers in the jury box and a courtroom full of people.
The prosecutor read the sex offender conditions aloud and then recited the facts of the case to the court. She said, in July 2023, the victim told her mother about the acts the defendant had performed in front of her and what he had done to her.
The mother reported the incident to law enforcement, and the victim was taken to the Crescent House in Macon and interviewed.
The interview happened Sept. 21, 2023. Ramirez was arrested Sept. 24, 2023, and has remained in custody. Jones County Investigator John Simmons answered the lobby call and took the original complaint. Simmons was the lead investigator in the case and was in court Sept. 24.
The investigator said he was satisfied with the resolution of the case, especially because the victim did not have to testify.
Superior Court Judge Terry Massey accepted the plea. The judge accepted the plea under Alford, which means without admitting guilt, the defendant believes it is in his best interest to plead guilty.
Massey went over the plea with Ramirez and explained that he was still entering a guilty plea to the charges. The judge said the maximum sentence for the charges to which he was pleading was 40 years and the minimum five years.
The judge asked Ramirez if he had anything more to say. The defendant took a few minutes to compose himself and then stated that he was sorry to the family. He added that what was stated to have occurred did not happen.
Massey questioned the defendant again.
“Do you believe it is in your best interest to enter a guilty plea based on the facts presented?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ramirez responded.
O’Donnell said they had been ready to move forward with the trial but now asked the court to accept the plea.
The mother of the victim asked to give a victim’s impact statement. She started by stating that no mother expected something like this to happen.
“I did my best to give her a safe environment,” she said.
The mother said a child should be able to enjoy their childhood.
“He robbed her of her innocence. It’s not right for him to be able to walk around. It’s heartbreaking to know what he did changed my little girl’s life forever,” she said. “He put a cloud over her.”
The witness went on to say that it was heartbreaking to watch her child have to relive what happened over again and have to talk about it.
“Now I have a distrust of everyone. I never thought he (Ramirez) could do something like that,” she said.
Ramirez was not a relative but a trusted family friend.
O’Donnell said his client had never been convicted of a felony and asked for him to be sentenced as a first offender.
That would mean, after the 20-year sentence was satisfied, Ramirez would not have a felony on his record.
Fiore immediately objected to the first offender sentence. She said it was because of the impact on the family that they agreed to accept the plea.
“We did not want the victim to have to testify, but for what he did to her, he should have to pay for the rest of his life. People should know what he did,” the prosecutor stated.
The defense attorney said Ramirez would live with it for 13 years in prison and would be 55 when he is done with probation.
Fiore said, if he were sentenced under first offender, the defendant would only be under the sex offender conditions for 20 years. It was her intention that the sex offender conditions extend for the remainder of his life.
After listening to the arguments of the attorneys, Massey stated he would accept the guilty plea under Alford, but he did not grant the first offender condition.
“It’s a good compromise so the victim did not have to testify,” the judge noted.
Massey went over the sex offender conditions with the defendant and added the defendant was banned from Jones County for the duration of the sentence.
After Ramirez was removed from the courtroom, Fiore informed the judge that the victim would like to speak to him. Massey readily agreed, and the 9-year old came in the courtroom and climbed up into the witness chair.
During their conversation, the youngster told him she enjoys reading and writing but is not a fan of math. She also said she liked his bow tie.
After the victim exited the courtroom, Massey brought the jury back to let them know about the plea. He thanked them for their service.
Fiore also addressed the jurors. “Without you, the system does not work. This was a hard case, and it was decided the guilty plea was the best option so the victim did not have to testify,” she said.
Massey said most criminal courts are backed up because there could not be jury trials during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said Jones County, however, is pretty caught up and in better shape than most.
“We resolved 40-50 cases over the past three weeks because the defendants knew the jury was coming in,” he said.
