Murder charges announced in July 24 Santa Maria slaying

Marilyn Pharis wasn’t immediately killed on July 24 when Victor Aureliano Martinez Ramirez and Jose Villagomez allegedly broke into her home, raped, strangled, and struck her repeatedly in the head with a hammer. The 64-year-old military contractor and Air Force veteran died several days later in a hospital. 

The coroner determined that Pharis died as a result of the attack, according to Santa Maria Police Department Cmdr. Kendall Greene.

The charges of attempted murder, sexual assault, and residential burglary that Martinez Ramirez and Villagomez were originally facing were upgraded to murder, torture, and rape, among other charges, according to Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley, who announced her intention to bring the charges during an Aug. 7 televised press conference at the SMPD headquarters. 

Those charges could carry the death penalty in California. 

“It’s too soon in our process for me to make a decision about whether this will be a death penalty case,” Dudley said, adding that life in prison without parole would be the other option. “I will seek input from the SMPD, other members from the DA’s office, the defense attorneys for both men. And then after all of them, then, of course, the victim’s family.” 

The case gained nationwide attention and controversy because Martinez Ramirez is an undocumented immigrant who was arrested—albeit cited and released—for past offenses, according to SMPD Chief Ralph Martin, including possession of methamphetamine two weeks before the attack on Pharis. 

At the press conference, Martin expressed his frustrations with state and national governments at what he believes is faulty legislation, such as AB 109 and Proposition 47.

“We’ve seen AB 109 passed, we’ve seen Prop. 47 passed, I am not remiss to say that from Washington, D.C., to Sacramento there’s a blood trail leading to the bedroom of Marilyn Pharis,” Martin said. “I think this is a national issue.”

Proposition 47 is a measure passed by California voters in November 2014 that reduces certain felonies to misdemeanors, including certain drug offenses like possession. 

Martin said his department had no choice but to cite and release Martinez Ramirez. But it appears that Martinez Ramirez was being sought by the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement before he was arrested two weeks ago. 

According to Lori Haley, a public affairs officer for ICE, the agency lodged an immigration detainer for Martinez Ramirez with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office in May 2014, asking for the Sheriff’s Office to notify ICE when Martinez Ramirez was released. It never happened.

“Records provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office show that Mr. Martinez was released by local authorities a week later without ICE receiving the requested notification,” according to an ICE statement issued by Haley.

But the Sheriff’s Office said it could not detain Martinez Ramirez without violating his constitutional rights unless ICE obtained a court order, according to a statement provided to the Sun by Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman Kelly Hoover, who cited the 2013 California Trust Act and Miranda-Olivares v. Clackamas County, a federal court case that held that said a person being held solely on the basis of an ICE detainer was unconstitutional. Beyond citing statues and court precedents, a statement provided by the SBSO echoed the dilemma facing many sheriff's in the state.

“The impact of these two laws causes a significant legal and moral conflict for California Sheriffs when handling ICE immigration detainer requests,“ the statement said. “It is imperative that the Federal government work to remedy this conflict and provide clear guidance to California Sheriffs.“

Records from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office provided to the Sun show that Martinez Ramirez was booked into jail four times between 2009 and 2015 for various offenses, including felony assault with the intent to commit sexual assault in May 2014. It wasn’t until then that the Sheriff's Office received a notice from ICE to detain Martinez Ramirez, but the Sheriff's Office couldn’t act, citing the lack of a federal court order, according to records.

While the nation converses about the tragedy of Pharis’ death, Santa Maria experienced another homicide. 

According to the SMPD, officers responded to an Aug. 7 shooting near the intersection of South Miller and East Cypress streets, where they found 39-year-old Juan Francisco Valdez-Cortez shot to death. 

No suspects have been detained, according to the SMPD. Valdez-Cortez’s death marks the eighth homicide in Santa Maria in 2015. 

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