Man convicted of gang-related murder, knife assault
Angel Ramosramirez
Defendant faces possible 41 years to life sentence
– A San Luis Obispo County jury has convicted a Santa Maria man of a gang-related murder and a separate knife assault, according to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office.
District Attorney Dan Dow announced Feb. 2 that Angel Ramosramirez, born Jan. 26, 1995, was found guilty of the 2022 second-degree murder of Daniel Diaz, 20, and, in a separate trial, a 2021 knife assault on a juvenile. Ramosramirez is scheduled to be sentenced for both crimes on April 28.
On Sept. 9, a San Luis Obispo County jury found Ramosramirez, 31, guilty of second-degree murder. Jurors also found true that the killing was committed for the benefit of the West Park criminal street gang and that Ramosramirez used a knife during the attack. The gang operates primarily in Santa Maria.
During the 29-day trial, jurors heard evidence that Diaz, an Oceano resident, was stabbed 10 times during the early morning hours of June 4, 2022, on a street in Oceano.
Following the jury verdict, San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Jesse J. Marino found true that Ramosramirez had sustained a 2016 Santa Barbara County conviction for making criminal threats for the benefit of the same criminal street gang. The prior conviction qualifies as a strike under California’s Three Strikes Law.
On Jan. 29, Judge Marino also found Ramosramirez guilty of assault with a deadly weapon in a separate case. The judge found true that Ramosramirez used a knife and inflicted great bodily injury on a juvenile victim.
Prosecutors charged both the murder and the knife assault in the same complaint. The court ordered separate trials for each crime to protect the defendant’s due process rights, with the murder charge tried first.
At the assault trial, Ramosramirez waived his right to a jury, and Judge Marino heard the evidence. The court found that Ramosramirez stabbed a teenager in the chest at a party in Nipomo on Sept. 4, 2021, approximately nine months before the murder of Diaz. Judge Marino also found that Ramosramirez personally inflicted great bodily injury on the juvenile victim.
“We will aggressively prosecute violent crime in our community. Particularly violent gang crime, which far too often targets our disadvantaged population,” Dow said. “We remain committed to working closely with our local and regional law enforcement partners to guarantee successful prosecutions and appropriate sentences in cases of gang violence.”
Sentencing is scheduled for April 28 in Department 10 of the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. Ramosramirez faces a maximum sentence of 41 years to life in state prison.
The case was investigated by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department, with assistance from the Santa Maria City Police Department, San Luis Obispo City Police Department, California Highway Patrol, San Luis Obispo County Probation Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
