Edwin Ramos - Murder Case and Trial

Murder Case and Trial

On June 22, 2008, Tony Bologna and his sons, Michael and Matthew, were shot dead near their residence in the Excelsior district of San Francisco as they returned home in the afternoon from a family barbecue in Fairfield. Bologna was on his way home to rest before reporting to his job as night manager at a supermarket later that afternoon. Another one of Tony's sons was critically injured. Jaxon Van Derbeken of the San Francisco Chronicle reported the incident initially as one of road rage. Ramos was arrested and booked on murder charges three days later without bail.

Preliminary hearings were held in June 2009. The only survivor of the shooting identified Ramos as the shooter. In September 2009, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Douglas Largaespada, an alleged MS-13 member, claimed that Ramos killed the Bolognas. Marvin Medina, who was injured in a shooting hours before the Bolognas were shot, testified in court in exchange for prosecutorial immunity. He repeatedly denied knowing Ramos or other MS-13 gang members; prosecutors questioned Medina to determine whether Ramos was seeking retaliation for the shooting of Medina in killing the Bolognas. However, Medina could not explain why he was driving around the San Francisco Mission District for two hours the day before he was shot and why he called several people but not 911 after being shot. On June 24, Sergeant Mario Molina, a San Francisco police officer who was an expert on Latino gangs, testified that Ramos thought the Bolognas were rival Norteños gang members. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson ruled on June 29 that Ramos would stand trial for three counts of murder, and Ramos pled not guilty on July 13. According to Sgt. Molina, Ramos stated that his friend Wilfredo "Flaco" Reyesruano, who police identified as a leader of MS-13, shot the Bolognas. San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris sought a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole rather than the death penalty should Ramos be convicted. Mayor Newsom supported Harris's decision.

Harry Dorfman and George Butterworth represent the prosecution; Marla Zamora is representing Ramos in court. Judge Jackson removed Ramos's previous lead defense attorney Robert Amparan on January 7 because Amparan was representing Douglas Largaespada at the time.

Marvin Medina admitted on December 1, 2009 that he lied on the stand six months earlier and could not explain how Ramos obtained his cell-phone number. Additionally, Medina identified Reyesruano as the shooter of the Bolognas. When prosecutors attempted to check for a gang-related tattoo, Medina admitted that he was a former MS-13 member. As a result, Medina pled guilty to three counts of perjury regarding his claims that he did not know Reyesruano, he only met Ramos once before the preliminary hearings, and he was alone when he was shot in 2008. Having been in jail since the preliminary hearings ended, Medina was sentenced to three years of probation on January 12, 2010 with credit for time served but remained held on $1 million bail as a material witness.

In May 2012, a jury in San Francisco convicted Ramos of killing the Bolognas and attempting to murder a surviving member of the family. Judge Charles Haines sentenced Ramos to 183 years to life without parole on June 11, 2012.