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Belmont murder trial date set

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  • Sonny Long •
  • Originally published January 9, 2009 at 10:39 a.m., updated January 9, 2009 at 10:39 a.m.

Correction: The motion to suppress statements made to investigators by defendant Steve Ramirez was denied by District Judge W.C. Kirkendall via letter late last year after an October pre-trial hearing and not during Wednesday's pre-trial hearing. This was reported incorrectly on Page A4 on Thursday, Jan. 8.

GONZALES - Almost 18 months after 8-year-old Crystal Ramirez died, her adoptive parents, Steve and Bettie Ramirez, will stand trial charged with her death.

They are charged with murder, injury to a child, unlawful restraint and endangering a child.

On Wednesday, the final pre-trial hearings in the case were held and the trial date was set.

"There were a couple of motions in limine made on behalf of Mrs. Ramirez, and we also formalized an agreement that they are going to be tried together," said Carrie Moy, Gonzales County assistant district attorney who will prosecute the case. "We are set to begin trial."

The trial will begin with jury selection on Monday, Feb. 2, with District Judge W.C. Kirkendall presiding. Nate Stark represents Bettie Ramirez, 59, and Robert Caine represents Steve Ramirez, 65. Both attorneys are from Austin.

During the hearing, the judge denied a request by Steve Ramirez to not allow some statements he made during questioning by sheriff's deputies and the Texas Ranger.

On Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007, at about 3:30 p.m., Steve Ramirez took Crystal's body to the Belmont fire station, nine days before her 9th birthday, saying she had been hurt in a trampoline accident.

After questioning the next day by a Gonzales County Sheriff's Office investigator and a Texas Ranger, the couple was arrested.

They spent about six months in the Gonzales County jail before District Judge Dwight E. Peschel, against the state's recommendation, lowered their bail to $75,000 each. The bail had been $350,000 on Steve Ramirez and $300,000 on Bettie Ramirez.

A Gonzales County grand jury indicted the couple for murder on Nov. 19, 2007. Crystal suffered from malnutrition and weighed only 45 pounds at the time of her death. She also suffered "at least 10 impact areas to the head" causing bleeding between the skull and the brain, according to a report from Travis County Medical Examiner David Dolinak.

The couple was also indicted for injury to a child for Crystal and her 10-year-old sister. A third child in the Ramirez home, a 7-year-old boy, showed no signs of abuse, according to reports.

In June 2008, additional indictments of unlawful restraint and endangering a child were added to the murder and injury to a child charges.

  • What is a motion in limine?

    Latin: "at the threshold" - a motion made before the start of a trial requesting that the judge rule that certain evidence may, or may not, be introduced to the jury in a trial. ...

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    • What is a motion in limine?

    Latin: "at the threshold" - a motion made before the start of a trial requesting that the judge rule that certain evidence may, or may not, be introduced to the jury in a trial. If a question is to be decided in limine, it will be for the judge to decide. Usually it is used to shield the jury from possibly inadmissible and unfairly prejudicial evidence.

    SOURCE: Wikipedia



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