2014-11-23 Jose Hernandez

Murder of Sal Ramirez

The murder of Sal Ramirez occurred on November 23, 2014, at a residence at 1621 North Garfield Street in Amarillo, Texas. Ramirez, 23, was stabbed in the head with a screwdriver while cutting his hair in a bedroom. He was transported to a hospital and died from a penetrating injury to the brain.^[1][2]

Police identified 21-year-old Jose Miguel Hernandez as a suspect based on witness statements. Hernandez fled Amarillo and remained outside the country until he was detained while returning from Mexico on October 5, 2015. A Potter County grand jury indicted him for murder in December 2015.^[3][2:1]

Following a jury trial in September 2016, Hernandez was convicted of murder and sentenced to 65 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He appealed, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to identify him as Ramirez's killer. The Seventh Court of Appeals rejected that argument and affirmed the conviction on September 28, 2017.^[2:2][4]

Incident

On the evening of November 23, 2014, Ramirez was at the North Garfield residence with Alexsandra Magana, her brothers Mark and Juan Noriega, and other acquaintances. The group had been watching football and socializing while Ramirez cut several people's hair. Hernandez, a longtime friend of Mark Noriega, arrived during the gathering. Witnesses later described him as intoxicated but initially affectionate and nonconfrontational.^[2:3][4:1]

Ramirez eventually entered a bedroom to cut his own hair using a dresser mirror and a handheld mirror. Magana was sitting on the bed using her telephone, while Hernandez stood near or inside the bedroom doorway. Magana testified that she looked up after hearing a noise and saw Hernandez stab Ramirez in the left temple with a screwdriver. She said there had been no preceding argument or fight.^[2:4][4:2]

Juan Noriega entered or approached the room after hearing Magana scream and saw Ramirez falling. A screwdriver was embedded in Ramirez's head. Noriega removed it, placed it on the floor, and attempted to provide first aid while speaking with a 911 dispatcher. Hernandez left the residence on foot before officers arrived.^[1:1][2:5]

Amarillo police were dispatched to the residence at approximately 8:58 p.m. Responding officers found Ramirez on the bedroom floor with a puncture wound to his temple and signs of severe medical distress. Paramedics transported him to a hospital, where he died.^[1:2][2:6]

Investigation

Crime scene and autopsy

Officers recovered the screwdriver from the bedroom floor near Ramirez. A forensic pathologist determined that Ramirez died from a penetrating head injury. The wound entered through the left temporal bone and extended approximately three inches through the left cerebral hemisphere into the brain stem. The pathologist testified that the recovered screwdriver could have caused the injury.^[2:7]

Testing found Ramirez's DNA on the tip of the screwdriver. The handle contained a mixture from three people. Mark Noriega could not be excluded as one of the contributors, while Hernandez, Ramirez, Magana, Juan Noriega, and Desirae Riojas were excluded. Investigators did not recover Hernandez's fingerprints or DNA from the weapon.^[2:8][4:3]

Witness accounts

Magana identified Hernandez as the person who stabbed Ramirez. Mark and Juan Noriega did not testify that they directly witnessed the stabbing, but each placed Hernandez at the residence and described events immediately before or after the attack. Riojas testified that she had seen Hernandez handling or tossing a screwdriver earlier that evening.^[2:9][4:4]

The witnesses' trial testimony contained differences from their statements on the night of the killing. Among other discrepancies, Juan Noriega repeatedly told the 911 dispatcher that he did not know what had happened, while also making statements suggesting that he had seen part of the attack. Several witnesses did not initially report seeing Hernandez handle the screwdriver, although they later testified about it at trial.^[2:10]

Police nevertheless identified Hernandez as the suspect. On November 25, 2014, investigators obtained a Potter County murder warrant and announced that he was at large. Police said witnesses had identified him and that he was believed to have fled the residence on foot.^{[1:3][3:1][5]}

Flight and arrest

Hernandez lived with his parents in Amarillo at the time of the killing. His father testified that he last saw him on the afternoon of November 23, 2014. Hernandez left without taking clothing or other personal property and did not tell his family where he was going.^[2:11]

On October 5, 2015, United States Customs and Border Protection detained Hernandez as he attempted to enter the United States from Mexico at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso. He had no identification documents and told an officer that he had been in Mexico for approximately a year.^[2:12][4:5]

According to the border officer's trial testimony, Hernandez said that he had done something in Amarillo, would appear on the news, and had to pay for what he had done. He also described being present at a party where a shooting occurred and said he fled because he knew police were looking for him. A records check showed an outstanding warrant, and he was taken into custody.^[2:13][4:6]

Indictment and trial

On December 17, 2015, a Potter County grand jury indicted Hernandez for Ramirez's murder. He pleaded not guilty, and his trial began in the 181st District Court on September 12, 2016.^[2:14]

The prosecution relied on Magana's eyewitness identification, testimony that Hernandez had possessed a screwdriver, his departure immediately after the stabbing, his extended stay in Mexico, and his statements to the border officer. The State also presented medical and forensic evidence connecting the recovered screwdriver to Ramirez's fatal wound.^[2:15][4:7]

The defense challenged inconsistencies in the witnesses' accounts and emphasized the absence of Hernandez's DNA on the screwdriver handle. The defense also noted that Mark Noriega's DNA was present and that an officer had received information from Ramirez's mother concerning a possible alternative suspect. Investigators testified that the alternative information did not lead them to identify another suspect.^[2:16]

The jury found Hernandez guilty of murder. The following day, it assessed a sentence of 65 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.^[2:17][4:8]

Appeal

Hernandez appealed his conviction to the Seventh Court of Appeals of Texas in case number 07-16-00338-CR. His sole appellate issue challenged the legal sufficiency of the evidence identifying him as the person who killed Ramirez.^[2:18][4:9]

The appeal emphasized contradictions in witness testimony, the witnesses' omissions from their original statements, Juan Noriega's inconsistent comments during the 911 call, and Hernandez's exclusion from the DNA mixture on the screwdriver handle. Hernandez asked the court to reverse his conviction and enter a judgment of acquittal.^[2:19]

On September 28, 2017, the appellate court affirmed the conviction. The court held that judging witness credibility and resolving conflicts in the evidence were responsibilities of the jury. It concluded that Magana's eyewitness testimony, the accounts placing Hernandez with the screwdriver, his flight from the residence and the country, and his statements when apprehended provided legally sufficient evidence to support the verdict. The court treated the absence of Hernandez's DNA from the handle as an evidentiary conflict that the jury was entitled to resolve.^[4:10]

Timeline

Notes

• Early police reports described Ramirez as having been “stabbed” in the head. Medical testimony more specifically characterized the fatal injury as a penetrating wound caused by a screwdriver.^[1:6][2:26]
• The appellate brief contains apparent typographical errors identifying the guilty-verdict year as 2015 and the border encounter as occurring in 2017. The surrounding procedural history and appellate opinion establish that the trial occurred in 2016 and that Hernandez was apprehended on October 5, 2015.^[2:27][4:14]
• The two supplied PDF files titled 220-Hernandez-state.pdf and Hernandez-Jose-Miguel-Appellant.pdf are identical copies of Hernandez's appellate brief, not separate briefs filed by the State and the defense.
• The October 16, 2014 assault of Michael Todd Williams and the November 23, 2014 shooting of Eric Ontario Smith Jr. were separate cases included in contemporaneous reports announcing three wanted suspects. They were not connected to Ramirez's murder.^[3:3][5:1]

References