Man sentenced for 2 SLO County gang stabbings, murder in ‘unbearably sad’ case
Daniel Diaz was a normal 20-year-old — he loved playing soccer, driving the Oceano Dunes in his beloved red truck and spending time with his girlfriend, his family said. He had big dreams of starting his own business, getting married and raising a family.
But he never got the chance.
Diaz was killed in Oceano in 2022 by Santa Maria resident Angel Eduardo Ramos-Ramirez, 31, who was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder on Sept. 9 after a monthlong trial.
Ramos-Ramirez was found to have stabbed Diaz 10 times with a knife in association with a Santa Maria street gang known as West Park.
Ramos-Ramirez was also convicted of non-fatally stabbing Abel Cortez-Moreno — a teenager at the time — at a quinceañera nine months prior to Diaz’s murder, charges which were severed and dealt with in a separate court trial that culminated in a guilty verdict on Jan. 29.
Ramos-Ramirez was sentenced for both crimes on Tuesday in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. His mother, wife and two younger siblings sat behind him on the right side of the gallery in the front row. Members of the District Attorney’s Office also sat in on the double sentencing, and a cameraman recorded for the office.
On the left side of the room, all four rows were filled with Diaz’s friends, family and loved ones, as well as Cortez-Moreno.
As police body camera footage was played in court showing Diaz’s family’s reactions the night of the murder, the whole left side of the room broke out into silent tears, struggling to watch Diaz’s mother sob for her lost son. Many shielded their eyes. Others watched in reluctance, unable to look away. One man exited the courtroom.
“This is a heartbreaking case,” Judge Jesse Marino said. “We see a lot of tragedy here, but this is right up there with the worst case I’ve seen. This is unbearably sad.”
Members from both families gave statements at the emotional sentencing hearing, advocating for and against Ramos-Ramirez’s character, who himself apologized to the families and victims of his crimes on Tuesday.
While Ramos-Ramirez’s family and defense attorney asked for mercy from the judge in his sentence, the prosecution called for the maximum sentence of 42 years to life in prison.
“He killed another human being,” Deputy District Attorney Greg Devitt said during the hearing Tuesday. “The defendant is not worthy of receiving the court’s compassion.”
Devitt said a doctor had diagnosed Ramos-Ramirez with antisocial personality disorder, which Devitt said makes him a “psychopath” and “an extreme danger to society,” but the defense said that doctor never personally evaluated Ramos-Ramirez and based that diagnosis on hearsay and inaccuracies.
The diagnosis failed to take into account “extreme childhood trauma” Ramos-Ramirez that experienced, his defense attorney Laura Petty said.
“This court must consider everything it’s learned about Mr. Ramos-Ramirez, the good and the bad,” Petty said.
Judge Marino said he understood Ramos-Ramirez had “an exceptionally difficult childhood” and understood how his trauma could have played a role in his crimes, but that ultimately his “willingness to resort to deadly violence essentially at the drop of a hat presents an incredible danger to society.”
Marino imposed the maximum sentence of 19 years to life for both crimes — four years for the non-fatal stabbing and 15 years to life for second-degree murder — plus four years for enhancements for association with a gang, use of deadly weapon and infliction of great bodily injury.
Ramos-Ramirez also had a prior conviction in Santa Barbara County in 2016 for making criminal threats for the benefit of the West Park gang, which qualifies as a strike under California’s Three Strikes Law that Marino upheld, doubling his base term sentence for both stabbings before enhancements and adding two more strikes to his record.
When all was said and done, Ramos-Ramirez was sentenced to 42 years to life in prison with eligibility for parole. Marino also waived all fees and fines due to Ramos-Ramirez’s inability to pay.
Sighs of relief could be heard from Diaz’s loved ones as Marino read the sentence. Ramos-Ramirez tried to politely plead with the judge, but his verdict was final, he said.
“The only thing you can do while you’re in prison is whatever you can do to make sure that you never commit a crime like this again and stay violence-free in prison,” Marino said. “It gives me no pleasure to impose this sentence, but I think it is the just sentence here.”
Convicted killer apologizes to victim’s family
Many people showed up in support of Diaz on Tuesday, but only his direct family spoke on his behalf in front of the court.
Diaz’s sister, brother and mother described him as kind, loving polite and hardworking.
“No mother should have to endure the terrible reality of losing her son,” his mother said to the court Tuesday. “Much less,” she paused, crying, and her husband came up to the dais to hold her arm and stand by her side in support — “much less with the knowledge that a violent gang member brutally killed him.”
Suzette, Diaz’s sister, said losing her brother was the “worst thing I’ve ever experienced,” but that facing her brother’s killer in court for three years has been “emotional torture.”
“Sometimes I feel as a grieving family that we are the ones getting punished,” she said.
All three family members, as well as Cortez-Moreno — who survived being stabbed in the chest by Ramos-Ramirez at the quinceañera in 2021 — asked for him to serve the maximum sentence.
“Even now that I am here, I am not well,” Cortez-Moreno said in Mixteco through an interpreter. “I’m scared if he is to be released. I want him to be locked up, to not let him out, because he will hurt somebody else.”
Ramos-Ramirez’s family also spoke on Tuesday.
His siblings described him as a “father-figure” and “protector,” guarding them from the difficulties they faced growing up around gangs.
“Angel has always provided for this family,” his brother said. “He would pay the rent and our bills so our mother didn’t have to stress about it.”
The boy broke down in tears halfway through his statement, and his sister, Stacy, stood up by his side. Their mother cried, too, from her seat in the gallery.
“My brother was not a psychopath,” Stacy said. “... My brother has feelings, he knows what he did, and he knows he has to pay for it. He’s not expecting to be let free and pick up where his life was at.”
The last person to speak was Ramos-Ramirez himself. He started crying before he gave his statement.
“I want to start off by saying I apologize to everyone that’s here today,” he said. “I know this tragedy has affected many lives and has caused all of you so much pain.”
“To the Diaz family, I want to say from the bottom of my heart I am truly sorry for your loss,” Ramos-Ramirez said. “I am sorry for the loss of your son. I am sorry for the loss of your brother. I am sorry you will never be able to hold or see him again. I do believe there is heaven, I believe Danny is up there, looking over all of you.”
“I need you guys to know that it was never my intention to take away Danny’s life,” he continued. “I wish that never would’ve happened and he was still alive. I also need you to know that just because I believe I defended myself does not mean I don’t feel remorse, because I do. I also take full responsibility for my actions that day. ... Now I see it was my own actions that got me here today.”
“I want you to know I pray for your forgiveness and Daniel’s every night, even though I may never get it,” he said.
He emphasized that Diaz’s death was not gang-related.
“I hope you can find peace in that,” Ramos-Ramirez said.
He also invited Diaz’s family to visit him in prison, even just to tell him “how much you guys hate me,” he said.
“I will sit through that visit, hoping you guys can find the closure you need,” he said.
Later, at the end of the hearing, right before he was sentenced, he also apologized to Cortez-Moreno.
Ramos-Ramirez told Judge Marino that in jail, he wants to take classes and address his childhood trauma, which he now sees contributed to his criminal actions. He said he wanted to become a better man for his wife and family if he were to ever get out.
“I now see that I wasn’t the tough man I thought life had made me,” he said.
