Gang Members Lose Bid for New Trial in 1997 Killings
A Pomona Superior Court judge declined to order a new trial for two gang members convicted of four 1997 murders after the key eyewitness retracted her statement that she had made up her original testimony.
Desiree Ramirez, 18, told the court Friday that she told the truth at a May 1997 preliminary hearing at which she testified she saw Richard “Sneeks” Aguirre and Michael “Spankly” Guzman running from a home where police found three of the victims.
Ramirez said she lied in November 1998 when she told a private investigator working for Aguirre’s appeals court lawyer that she made up her story and was using PCP on Jan. 21, 1997, the night of the murders. That statement led the 2nd District Court of Appeals to order Friday’s hearing.
She also testified that Aguirre’s wife, Sherry Aguirre, had told her to change her story and say she had been using PCP.
Sherry Aguirre later testified that she never asked Ramirez to change her story and that it was Ramirez who approached her, saying she lied in 1997 about what she saw. Both Aguirre and Guzman, members of Pomona’s notorious 12th Street gang, are serving life sentences.
Judge David Milton found Friday that Ramirez was a credible witness.
Ramirez appeared at Friday’s hearing after having been arrested under a special order by the judge. She had disappeared before a previous hearing.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
