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Standing beside Victor’s potrait, Magdaline Beccera stoically spoke painful words for the slain innocent’s mother.
“The cycle of life is that a child is supposed to outlive his parents,” she said. “Why him, and not me?
“When I see my other children playing, I find myself looking at their faces trying to find him in them. But I have to face the fact my son is no longer with us,” Beccera added. “I struggle, but I go on for my other children and my husband.”
Ramirez with his attorney (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter) No re-use without watermark and hyperlink
The young man’s mother frequently suffers nightmares that “make the most terrifying horror film seem like a fairy tale,” the aunt added.
Garcia held on for eight days in Hackensack University Medical Center after being beaten and stabbed in June 2009 by members of the Dominicans Don’t Play street gang.
Two of those involved took plea deals. A third went to trial.
Gabriel “Flaco” Pujols agreed to a 23-year prison sentence when he pleaded guilty last April to aggravated manslaughter, admitting that he stabbed Garcia. An associate, Frederick DeLeon took a 15-year deal and testified against a third man, Manuel “Bimby” Ramirez.
Ramirez was acquitted in November of murder but convicted of reckless manslaughter. He faced a minimum of 10 years – and possibly more, helping his co-defendants escape from police and then lying to investigators.
Ramirez asked Superior Court Judge Edward Jerejian for leniency, saying he had a young son to care for.
Jerejian, in turn, sentenced Ramirez to 10 years in state prison and two five-year consecutive terms — to run at the same time — for the hindering convictions. Under the No Early Release law for violent offenders, he must serve a minimum of 8½ years in state prison before he’s eligible for parole.
“At no time did I participate in any way emotionally, physically, in the death of Victor Garcia,” Ramirez told the judge through an interpreter. “If I had, like the man I am, I would have admitted it.
“I have a son. It’s painful for me not to see him grow. I’d like to ask you to please have compassion and give me a fair sentence so that my son doesn’t go through the same thing that has happened to me.”
Jerejian wasn’t moved.
DeLeon (w/headphones), left, and Pujols, with their lawyers (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter) No re-use without watermark and hotlink
“Mr. Garcia never got to have a son,” the judge told Ramirez. “You’ll get out at some point and maybe want for your son better than yourself.”
Ramirez’s continued insistence that he wasn’t involved, despite being convicted, angered Jerejian.
“You were involved – you were there, you drove, you stopped, you pointed him out and you were there when he died,” the judge said. “You lied to the police, and helped the others get away.
“Is respect, a lack of respect, colors – is it worth the death of somebody?”
Jerejian also had no pity for Pujols, who said he was “sorry for taking a man’s life.”
“Mr. Garcia is dead because of you,” the judge told him. “You took it upon yourself to stick a knife in him, to kill an innocent person.”
Jerejian also clearly wasn’t happy about Pujols’s plea deal.
“You saved your own life by working this out to serve 23 years in prison instead of life,” he said.
Pujols must serve more than 17 years of that term before being eligible for parole. He’ll also be subject to five years supervised parole upon release.
DeLeon was sentenced to 12 years, of which he’ll have to serve nine before parole eligibility followed by five years of supervised release.
Along with Becerra, two of Garcia’s cousins spoke of how the young man had come from Ecuador to be with his mother when he was 16.
“That was his dream,” said Andrea Baquerzo. “He came to the United States when he was 16 to be with her. He was healthy and loved sports.”
“Victor was a wonderful soccer player. He was always being asked to play on teams,” added Jenilee Marrero.”
All three convicts had remained pending sentencing at the Bergen County Jail, where they were returned today.
DeLeon testified during his plea last year that he and Pujols, both from Union City, left a Hackensack house party after being slighted by members of another gang. They were in a car driven by Ramirez when they passed a group of men, turned around and got out.
The men ran, but the DDP trio grabbed Garcia. They asked him whether he belonged to the Trinitario street gang, but, before he could answer, attacked him.
Authorities said he didn’t belong to a gang.
A fourth defendant, who was 16 at the time, was brought before a Family Court judge on a gang-related complaint. But that was later dropped after authorities determined he wasn’t involved.
STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter. No re-use without watermark and hyperlink.
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