Man Convicted in 1990 San Clemente Slaying

A former San Juan Capistrano man was convicted Thursday of second-degree murder for a 1990 shooting that authorities described as San Clemente’s first gang-related slaying.

Juan Jose Ramirez, who had claimed self-defense in the shooting, faces a minimum of 18 years to life in prison when he is sentenced April 12 for the death of Roman C. Calvillo, 26, of San Clemente.

Orange County Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan said the defendant’s contentions of self-defense were “not believable.”

“Mr. Ramirez was the aggressor,” the judge said before announcing his verdict. Relatives of the victim said they were pleased by the judge’s decision.

“I just want [Ramirez] to be punished for what he did,” said Manuel Calvillo, the victim’s brother.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Paer contended during the nonjury trial that the shooting in the early hours of Nov. 18, 1994, marked the violent end to a night of taunting between rival San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano gangs.

Calvillo, a painter and father of a young daughter, had been at the dance with friends at the Great Wall restaurant when he was shot. Family members said the victim was friends with gang members, but was not an active member.

The prosecutor said Ramirez, then 19 and living in San Juan Capistrano, fired at least one shot inside the restaurant as bottles started flying, then ran outside and continued to shoot at the victim, who fell in the parking lot with a fatal wound to his side.

Defense attorney Robert Hartmann had asked the judge to find Ramirez guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter, contending Ramirez fired in self-defense during the confrontation after being mistaken as a gang member by the rival San Clemente group.

Ramirez testified the San Clemente group had started the fight, and he fired the gun to “scare them away.”

He said he had brought the gun for protection because he and his brother, who working the dance as a DJ, had experienced problems in the past around their equipment.

But the judge questioned why Ramirez didn’t just stay inside the restaurant if he feared for his life. He cited evidence that Calvillo was fatally struck in his side outside the restaurant, and could not have been moving forward to confront the defendant.

A witness testified she didn’t see the victim do anything to provoke the confrontation, and said the San Juan Capistrano group had been flashing gang signs and taunting them.

After the shooting, Ramirez, who denied being a member of a gang, fled to Mexico and then to Delaware, where he was arrested in 1994 during a routine traffic stop.