Ramirez Lawyers Seek to Bar Evidence : Police Violated Suspect’s Rights During Questioning, They Say

Defense attorneys for Night Stalker suspect Richard Ramirez are claiming that some evidence, including two pistols and an automobile, should be ruled inadmissible in court because they were seized by police in violation of Ramirez’s constitutional rights.

In defense motions made public Tuesday, the attorneys assert that on the day of their client’s arrest, Los Angeles police continued to question Ramirez after he “said that he would like to talk to a lawyer and that he did not have a lawyer and could not afford one.”

During the interview, the defense contended, police told Ramirez that his statements could not be used “against him,” because he had asked for a lawyer. Moreover, the defense charged, police said “it would ‘haunt’ his mother ‘to her grave’ if defendant didn’t tell the police everything.”

The questioning led police to Ramirez’s car, the two pistols and jewelry found in a bus depot locker, the motion said.

Los Angeles Municipal Judge James F. Nelson, who is presiding at Ramirez’s preliminary hearing, announced Tuesday that he would not rule on the motion until any evidence seized as a result of Ramirez’ statements is about to be introduced in the proceeding. Nelson had listened to a copy of the tape recording of the police interview in closed session Monday.

The prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. P. Philip Halpin, declined to comment on the defense motion Tuesday, saying, “I need not react to any of that, nor would I be interested.”

Halpin called expert witnesses Tuesday in connection with the June 28, 1984, murder of Glassell Park resident Jennie Vincow, 79.

Dr. Joseph L. Cogan, a deputy county medical examiner, testified that Mrs. Vincow died from six stab wounds--two of which were six inches deep--and a slash wound on her throat that cut through her trachea.

Later, police fingerprint expert Reynaldo Clara testified that he lifted four fingerprints from a window screen found on the living room floor of the victim’s apartment. But by the conclusion of the court session, he had not identified whose prints they were.

Police have said that they matched Ramirez’s prints to the screen, which they allege he removed in order to gain entry to the ground-floor apartment.

Ramirez, 26, a drifter originally from El Paso, Tex., is charged with 14 murders and 54 other felonies in Los Angeles County between June, 1984, and Aug. 31, 1985. Nelson eventually will decide whether Ramirez must stand trial. If convicted, Ramirez could face the death penalty.

Nelson did rule Tuesday that Halpin should not be held in contempt for allegedly violating a court-imposed gag order as a result of recent newspaper articles. The defense, in seeking the contempt ruling, had requested that the case be dismissed because Halpin’s statements had allegedly exacerbated publicity about the case, and that it could prevent Ramirez from receiving a fair trial.