Three convicted of slaying 10-year-old boy, Modesto man

A jury convicted three men Friday of murdering a 10-year-old boy and a Modesto man, who were slain in what authorities called gang retaliation.

In a courtroom with heightened security, Aaron Aguilera, Randy Sifuentez and Joe Luis Ramirez each were convicted in the double homicide. The verdicts include special circumstances of gang-related violence, discharging a firearm at an occupied home and use of firearms in the homicides.

Jason Cyphers, 29, and 10-year-old Epifanio Ramirez Jr. were killed in a shooting July 28, 2009, at the home of Epifanio Ramirez Sr. on Santa Barbara Avenue in the La Loma neighborhood. The prosecution maintained that Epifanio Ramirez Sr., a drug dealer who had quit the Norteňo gang, was the intended target of the shooting because he was selling drugs in the gang’s territory.

Cyphers was gunned down in the garage of the home, and the boy was inside the house when struck by a bullet that went through a wall.

Informants testified that Joe Ramirez was a high-ranking gang member who ordered Aguilera and Sifuentez to carry out the shooting. Joe Ramirez is not related to the young victim or his father.

Bonnie Olivera, Cyphers’ mother, said outside the courtroom that she was pleased with the verdicts. “I am really glad someone is held responsible. My son was not an angel but he did not deserve that. Anything (the defendants) said was a lie,” she said.

Olivera said Cyphers was her youngest son and best friend and was at the home after giving a ride to a friend. She said it was difficult waiting almost two years for the first arrest in the case. Aguilera was arrested in June 2011, followed by Sifuentez, and Joe Ramirez was charged as the third defendant in June 2013.

“It was common knowledge who had done it the day it happened,” Olivera said.

Superior Court Judge Marie Sovey Silveira scheduled sentencing for Nov. 9. The three men are due back in court Oct. 26.

During the trial, Epifanio Ramirez Sr. testified that he was a Norteño gang member for more than 20 years, selling drugs and sharing profits with gang leaders. He said he decided to quit the gang after serving time in prison and continued with drug-dealing on his own without sharing profits with gang leaders.

Ramirez testified that he sold methamphetamine from the Santa Barbara Avenue home even though he knew it was in Norteño territory. According to his testimony, he and a friend exchanged gunfire with men that he identified as Aguilera and Sifuentez more than a month before the July 2009 shooting, but no one was injured.

Ramirez testified that he was in his garage with his girlfriend and three friends, including Cyphers, on July 28, 2009, when someone walked up to the garage and gunfire erupted.

The young victim’s father at first did not cooperate with police, but his testimony against the three defendants came after a federal prison sentence was reduced. Authorities had seized weapons found at Ramirez’s home before the deadly shooting. He suffered a gunshot wound to the hand during the shooting that killed his son and was arrested by federal marshals on illegal weapons charges at the Bay Area hospital where he was treated.

Epifanio Ramirez was in a federal prison in Arkansas when he changed his mind about talking to police, he testified.

Joe Ramirez laid a hand to steady one of his co-defendants as the verdicts were read. In challenging the statements of some prosecution witnesses, the defense argued that Joe Ramirez could not have been managing gang activities in 2008 and 2009 because he was in federal custody at that time.

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Three convicted of slaying 10-year-old boy, Modesto man."