ROBBERY-HOMICIDE CASE: Juror sent flirtatious messages - News

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Nov. 14, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

ROBBERY-HOMICIDE CASE: Juror sent flirtatious messages

Woman visited jailed defendant; new trial sought

By DAVID KIHARA
REVIEW-JOURNAL

JUROR CONTACTS DEFENDANT

I'm pretty straightforward so when I feel the need for sex I just get it and I always get what I want! Ricky, I don't think you'll have to work hard to get me to fall, I fall for guys quite easily which I totally hate! I'm just weak like that and I'll give you a 'hint' if you really want to get me, smile and I'm all yours!

Excerpt from a letter sent by juror Marnie Ramirez to Ricky Vazquez.

Ricky Vazquez
Tried in the shooting death of Richard Morris, killed during a robbery

A juror in a recent Las Vegas murder case sent one defendant sexually explicit letters and visited him at the county jail.

As the juror sees it, she did nothing wrong. But the defendant's attorney says he now has possible grounds for a mistrial.

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The juror, 21-year-old Marnie Ramirez, sent the flirtatious letters to Ricky Vazquez, convicted in October of second-degree murder for a 2006 slaying.

Ramirez, married and a mother, said she was the hold-out on the jury who wanted to convict Vazquez of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser charge.

In the letters, Ramirez writes that she's a sex addict and wants to touch him "and see where it all leads to."

"When I feel the need for sex I just get it and I always get what I want," she wrote. "I'll give you a 'hint' if you really want to get me, smile and I'm all yours!"

Vazquez's attorney, Keith Brower, has asked District Judge Valerie Adair to give his client a new trial. Without naming Ramirez, Brower in his motion stated a juror visited Vazquez at the jail after the trial. She told Vazquez she had conducted independent research on him, which Brower said could be grounds for a mistrial.

Adair is scheduled to hold a hearing on Nov. 18 to address the issue of a new trial.

Ramirez said she didn't research or contact Vazquez during the trial. She said she wanted to contact Vazquez afterward because she felt guilty about delivering a second-degree murder verdict.

"It (the trial) did get to me emotionally," she said by telephone Thursday.

She admitted flirting with Vazquez in the letters, but said she would never have a physical relationship with him.

"It just makes me feel sad," she said. "He probably doesn't have anyone to talk to."

Vazquez, 27, and co-defendant Lee Vincent, 24, were tried for the murder of Richard Morris during a weeklong trial that ended on Oct. 24. Morris was found shot to death on Sept. 10, 2006, near Alta Drive and Rainbow Boulevard. He was killed in a robbery.

Vincent was convicted of first-degree murder for the slaying.

Ramirez said she believed, while deliberating, that Vazquez should have been convicted of voluntary manslaughter in part because there wasn't evidence showing he knew about the robbery beforehand.

She now says the second-degree murder conviction was "the right decision."

District Attorney David Roger said Ramirez's actions aren't grounds for a new trial.

"Where's the prejudice? He got the benefit of one juror advocating on his behalf," he said.

A juror contacting a criminal defendant during a trial could be grounds for a mistrial. But it's not necessarily improper for a juror to contact a defendant once the jury is finished with the case, said Robert Fellmeth, a law professor at the University of San Diego's School of Law and a former deputy district attorney and federal prosecutor.

Fellmeth said it's unusual -- but not unheard of -- for jurors to fall for criminal defendants.

"There are a certain number of women who are enamored by the drama and emotion and tragedy of major felons," he said.

Ramirez, however, said she isn't in love with Vazquez and only wanted to be friends with him. She visited him twice in jail and wrote at least four letters to him. The first letter is dated Oct. 24, the day Vazquez was convicted. He has not been sentenced.

Ramirez, originally from California, said she'd never served on a jury before. She works as a bank teller and also attends classes at the College of Southern Nevada.

Her letters are intimate. In them, she writes that she can't wait to see Vazquez at the jail and warns him not to write anything sexual because she doesn't want her husband to find out. She writes that she'll send him photos to help his "imagination" and wants to show him that she's a "freak" when she sees him.

She begins to worry when jail authorities confiscate her letters from his cell. But she writes that she wants to keep seeing him.

"I don't see why I would be in trouble," she writes. "We've done nothing wrong."

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. shirley wrote on November 21, 2008 07:46 AM: Jim, I'm not defending this "woman", but come on! This country is screwed up because the older generation (the ones in charge) have completely disregarded future generations with their short-sighted greed. $10 TRILLION dollar national debt, and talk of a $1 TRILLION dollar deficit. Fund your wars, tax cuts and unsustainable retirement obligations by slashing education and infrastructure. Borrow money from China to pay the Saudi's, and fight against energy independence. Let industries regulate themselves, and pilfer our environment and national resources. Strip us of our privacy and civil rights. And then blame us for the country being screwed up. You have no idea how screwed up things are, and the day of reckoning in coming. Ron Burgundy wrote on November 19, 2008 09:33 AM: Stay classy Marnie Ramirez! (I pity her husband and child.) Melba wrote on November 18, 2008 08:24 PM: Come on people how ignorant and close minded can you really be?! It's a shame to know that the people who have posted most of these comments are the people i come in contact with at some point of the day. This article was written by a person who's purpose was to make Ramirez sound awful, what you just read was his point of view which he brained washed into all of you by using connotation. People who criticized about her being a mother... first of all what does this have to do with the whole situation? Duhhh think!! To Dr. Death if you don't have anything smart of descent to say, don't say nothing at all, but then again thanks for proving my point of ignorant and close minded people just like all the others did of course the one who proved it the most would be DAVID KIHARA! Jim wrote on November 18, 2008 11:32 AM: Young and DUMB!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today's youth!!!!!!!!!! Wonder why this contry is screwed up????? Tom wrote on November 18, 2008 06:59 AM: What in the world has happened to our society? A juror falls for a defendant accused of robbery and murder? The victim's family should be outraged. While the trial was going over the last minutes of the victim's life, a juror was thinking about sex with the murderer...how sick is that, really?! America, your people have fallen. They are immoral. They are full of pride. They are vain. They are braggarts. They are selfish. They are ungrateful. Their thoughts are constantly sinful. Their evil knows no bounds. Oh, how you were Blessed. Now, his hand is removed, instead of blessings, we will receive His curses. The lights of the city on the hill will be extinguished. Laugher wrote on November 17, 2008 09:53 AM: Lends new meaning to being "tried". ok okok wrote on November 16, 2008 03:01 PM: ok who are u ppl to be saying if shes worth of having kids or not??what makes u perfect friken loosers..im in the county jail and personaly read all the incoming letters none have been as said make some thing up bette than this next time lvrj.......and to all u who have nothing to do go and do some charity work .enough said steve wrote on November 15, 2008 05:53 AM: TEE HEE! Life is all about having fun! I should be able to do anything I want, regardless of who i hurt, including my child and husband, the legal system. the world revolves around me!! I AM GEN Y! I AM A SUPERSTAR! LOOK I EVEN MADE THE NEWS! GRRRL POWER! You've come a long way baby! TEE HEE! I'M EMPOWERED! steve wrote on November 15, 2008 05:30 AM: Why on God's earth is it considered a "fundamental right" to have children? Sterilize this worthless woman right now! steve wrote on November 15, 2008 05:23 AM: TEE HEE! I know I can change him! GRRL POWER! Read All Comments