Opinion
3:20-cv-01589-FAB
09-13-2022
Ramos-Cruz v. Carrau-Martinez
October 22, 2019, File 04/23/21
REQUEST FOR EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY FOR ANTONIO RAMOS CRUZ
HIRAM SANCHEZ MARTINEZ JUDGE
Esteemed Madam Governor:
I am the judge who sentenced Antonio Ramos Cruz and Juan Carlos Melendez in 1992 for the murders of Haydee Teresa Maymi Rodriguez and her two children (boy and girl). A jury had found them guilty of those crimes.
Some time ago, by my own initiative, I approached Mr. Julio Fontanet, attorney for Antonio Ramos Cruz, to express my feelings, over twenty-five years later, regarding the case of Mr. Ramos Cruz. I will herein repeat what I said to him then and recently said to him again.
I always had doubts about the participation of Antonio Ramos Cruz in those murders. My best recollection of the evidence presented or the presentence report-I'm not sure which-is that Antonio was the son of a mother who had him in the middle of her teens, and perhaps that is why he seemed to me to be a bit immature and impressionable. I became convinced that his involvement in this case could be explained by the obvious mistake he made in choosing his company. The night of the events, Antonio was one of the four people who saw Haydee Teresa Maymi and her children (boy and girl) alive for the last time. The others were Juan Carlos (the co-defendant) and the brothers Barbara and Johito (witnesses for the prosecution; I think those were their names or nicknames).
My perception, based on my best recollection, is that it was Barbara who stated that she had seen Antonio Ramos Cruz where the events took place, standing, calm, with his arms crossed, in the corridor, at the door of a room, while listening to Haydee Teresa and Juan Carlos, arguing or fighting inside the room. I seem to remember that the expert evidence is that the murders occurred hours later, during the early morning hours from Sunday to Monday. I don't remember hearing any other evidence that linked Antonio to those murders.
For all these years I have lived with the certainty that, had the case been a bench trial, that is, without a jury, I would have had to find him not guilty. But Antonio had opted for a jury trial and, once it found him guilty, all that was left for me to do was to sentence him.
This is one of two cases that I heard as a judge of the then Superior Court (today the Court of First Instance) in which I have been dissatisfied with the outcome of the process. (The other case is not related to this one.) I am writing this letter because 1 know that Antonio Ramos Cruz is or will be requesting executive clemency. And I think it is my moral obligation to let you know, as Governor of Puerto Rico, that this case merits granting this inmate some type of clemency that might result in his release from prison.
Cordially, CERTIFICATION BY TRANSLATOR
I, MARY JO SMITH-PARES, an English-Spanish interpreter certified to that effect by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, do hereby certify that I have translated from Spanish into English the foregoing documents consisting of 2 pages, including this certification, and that this is a true and accurate translation to the best of my knowledge and ability.