Justices Uphold O.C. Murderer’s Death Sentence

The state Supreme Court on Monday upheld an Orange County man’s death sentence for the execution-style slaying of a fellow Taco Bell employee.

Marcelino Ramos, who turned 40 on Saturday, was convicted of the June 1979 murder of Katherine Parrott during a robbery at the Santa Ana Taco Bell where Ramos worked as a janitor.

He and another man, Ruben Gaitan, entered the restaurant just before closing time and ordered Parrott and a co-worker, Kevin Pickrell, into a walk-in refrigerator. Ramos told them to kneel and say their prayers, according to trial testimony. A jailhouse informant also said, in disputed testimony, that Ramos bragged about making them beg for their lives.

Parrott was shot to death. Pickrell was hit on the head and appeared to have been shot in the ear, but survived. More than $1,000 allegedly taken in the robbery turned up in an apartment that Ramos and Gaitan shared. Gaitan also was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

The disputed issue in Monday’s ruling involved jury selection in the retrial. According to a dissenting opinion by Justice Joyce Kennard, Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno refused to let Ramos’ lawyer ask prospective jurors whether they would automatically vote for a death sentence if the evidence showed that the killing was intentional or planned.

Kennard cited a 1994 ruling by the court saying jurors should be disqualified if they would automatically vote for or against the death penalty “because of one or more circumstances likely to be present in the case being tried.”

In the majority opinion, Justice Janice Rogers Brown said only that Briseno placed reasonable limits on juror questioning. Brown did not mention the specific issue Kennard raised.