Investigator says 3 defendants in Modesto double homicide were gang members

Trial testimony this week focused on the claimed gang activity of three men accused of murder in a 2009 shooting in Modesto’s La Loma neighborhood.

An investigator on Wednesday testified that three men accused of murder were active members of the Norteño street gang when 10-year-old Epifanio Ramirez Jr. and 29-year-old Jason Cyphers were shot to death.

The testimony is part of evidence to support the prosecution’s theory that the double homicide was gang retaliation against the boy’s father, who had dropped out of the gang and was selling methamphetamine on his own on Norteño turf.

Critics, however, say this type of testimony based merely on police reports gives prosecutors an unfair advantage. They argue that the testimony allows prosecutors to dredge up old, unrelated information about defendants’ encounters with police.

Prosecutors argue that the police encounters show a pattern of gang participation that occurs before and sometimes after a crime. If proven, defendants face lengthier prison sentences for crimes committed for the benefit of street gangs.

On Wednesday afternoon, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Marie Silveira told the jury that the limited purpose of testimony about claimed gang activity should be only to determine the motive of a crime. She said the testimony should not be used to judge someone’s personal character or tendency to commit a crime. The judge told the jurors that they had already received this instruction, but it was a good time to review it.

In this case, Aaron Aguilera, Joe Luis Ramirez and Randy Sifuentez are on trial charged with murder in the shooting deaths of the boy and Cyphers. Defendant Joe Ramirez is not related to the slain boy or his father, Epifanio Ramirez Sr., believed to have been the intended target in the shooting.

Modesto police Detective Sean Martin, a gang investigator, reviewed police reports involving the three defendants. Based on his department’s criteria, Martin testified that the defendants were Norteño gang members when the double homicide occurred July 28, 2009.

Modesto police use 10 criteria to determine a suspect’s gang membership. Only two of the 10 criteria are needed to indicate active gang membership. The criteria and the number needed to indicate gang membership vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction in California. Authorities might consider a suspect a gang member in one county but not in another.

For instance, Sifuentez met 7 out of the 10 criteria, Joe Ramirez met 8 out of the 10, and Aguilera met 7 out of the 10, according to Martin.

The gang investigator on Wednesday recounted reports of police encounters with the defendants. Some of the reports are written on field interview cards that officers typically use when questioning suspected gang members. The officers ask for their names and addresses, along with questions about their tattoos and gang affiliations.

Defense attorneys argue that they’re not allowed to cross-examine the officer who questioned the defendant and filled out the field interview card. The testimony is typically given by a gang expert for the prosecution. In this case, Martin also is the lead investigator assigned to the case.

One incident Martin spoke about on the witness stand involved Sifuentez. A Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputy, who also testified in the trial, said Sifuentez was found with a backpack carrying a loaded handgun and methamphetamine. The deputy testified that he found Sifuentez with the gun about 13 hours after the boy and Cyphers were killed.

Martin also testified about an investigation into a series of takeover-style armed robberies that authorities believe were carried out by a local crew of Norteños. He said information from suspects arrested in the case linked Joe Ramirez to the robberies. The robbery case is pending, and Joe Ramirez has denied those allegations.

The gang investigator told the jury that Joe Ramirez was found with a MoneyGram receipt and scrap piece of paper with the names and contact information for two members of Nuestra Familia, the prison-based gang that oversees the criminal activities of Norteños on the street. Martin testified that the evidence found shows Ramirez was responsible for paying dues or “taxes” to the prison gang leaders.

He said the information Joe Ramirez had was not something a low-level Norteño would have, because it establishes a direct link from Stanislaus County street gang members to the Nuestra Familia. “It’s going to be somebody of status,” Martin testified.

The prosecution’s case appeared to be nearing its end as the week ended. There was no testimony Thursday, and the courthouse is closed Friday for the Fourth of July holiday. The trial is expected to resume Tuesday, and defense attorneys soon could begin calling up their witnesses to testify.

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Investigator says 3 defendants in Modesto double homicide were gang members."