OCEANSIDE (CNS) - A state appellate court Tuesday upheld the first-degree murder conviction for a woman who fatally stabbed her neighbor in Oceanside as he returned home from walking his dog on the morning of his 45th birthday.
Jennifer Mendoza Ramos, 27, was convicted by a Vista jury for the April 10, 2020, killing of Chad Danielson, who worked as a physical education instructor at Jefferson Middle School.
Jurors could not agree on a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait, which could have resulted in a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Ramos was sentenced in 2022 to 26 years to life in state prison.
Prosecutors say Danielson was attacked from behind and stabbed seven times on his front doorstep.
Ramos and Danielson were strangers. She was arrested about a week later at her home, located several blocks from the victim's residence.
At trial, attorneys for both the prosecution and defense said Ramos told investigators that the voice of Satan commanded her to kill.
On appeal, Ramos' attorney argued the jury should not have been shown a series of photographs of Danielson's body from both the scene of the killing and his autopsy. The attorney argued that the facts of the stabbing were undisputed and the photographs' inclusion was prejudicial toward Ramos.
A three-justice panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal wrote that the pictures had evidentiary value since jurors were tasked with deciding whether the killing was a planned attack. With the defense arguing that the killing was not premeditated due to Ramos' mental state, the appellate justices wrote that the photos outlining the location of the stab wounds supported "the prosecutor's theory she was not so out of her senses at the time of the murder to be unable to premeditate and deliberate or plan a surprise attack. We conclude the evidence had obvious and significant value."
Ramos' attorney similarly objected to the inclusion of a family photo of Danielson posing with his wife and their dogs. The appellate panel said the photograph was prejudicial and didn't provide much evidentiary value, but wrote that its admission did not render the trial unfair.
Lastly, Ramos' attorney argued the trial judge should not have imposed a one-year prison term for an allegation of using a knife in the killing, a contention the appellate court rejected.
Copyright 2024, City News Service, Inc.
