Man Convicted of Murdering and Raping Woman He Met at Bar

A Superior Court jury Wednesday convicted a 25-year-old Santa Ana man of raping and murdering a woman he met in a bar, a verdict that could bring the death penalty.

Jurors, who began deliberating Feb. 6, convicted Richard Ramirez of first-degree murder, rape and sodomy in the killing of Kimberly Gonzalez, 22, on Nov. 21, 1983.

Ramirez admitted leaving a Santa Ana bar with Miss Gonzalez that night but said she walked him to his car and bid him good night. Her body was found the next morning in an alley behind the bar.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Goethals argued to the jury that Ramirez was “sexually aroused” by Miss Gonzalez and that he raped, sodomized and fatally stabbed her. Goethals said that scratches on Ramirez’s back when he was arrested by police were made by the watch band on Miss Gonzalez’s wrist, and he labeled Ramirez’s claim that he went home to his girlfriend a “crazy story.”

Commission of rape and sodomy in the course of a murder is considered a “special circumstance” under state law, which means that Ramirez is eligible for the death penalty.

Judge Donald A. McCartin set March 4 for the start of the penalty phase of the trial, during which the jury will decide whether to recommend to the judge that he sentence Ramirez to death or to life in prison without the possibility of parole.