“Quiznos murder nets 40-year prison term” |
| Quiznos murder nets 40-year prison term Posted: 23 Nov 2010 06:42 PM PST A San Antonio man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Tuesday for the fatal shooting of a Quiznos employee three years ago outside the sandwich shop on the North Side. John McBurnett, 22, was also ordered by state District Judge Ron Rangel to pay a $2,000 fine and restitution to the family of Nathan Ramirez, who was killed June 9, 2007, after a fight with the defendant's friends. McBurnett was found guilty by a jury in September, after two days of deliberation. Co-defendants James Clayton Kelly and John "Bubba" Rodriguez are still awaiting trial. Rangel's sentencing decision came after about an hour of testimony in which family members and friends of McBurnett repeatedly told the judge they still don't believe he's guilty. He got caught up in the wrong crowd and has now become a scapegoat for others who were in the vehicle, they alleged. Defense attorney Roger Perez submitted a notebook containing more than 40 letters of support for McBurnett, who has no prior criminal history. "He never got into fights at school, at home, in the neighborhood — nothing," said Howard McBurnett, the defendant's father. "It was just being at the wrong place at the wrong time." Since the trial, at least one juror has come to agree with the family, writing two letters to the judge stating that she made a mistake with her guilty verdict. But Rangel agreed with prosecutors that the letters should be disregarded because the juror was given bad legal advice against Rangel's orders by another defense attorney after the trial. "It's important to remember that guilt-innocence has already been decided in this case," Rangel said, describing Ramirez as "a truly, truly innocent young man" who was terrorized by McBurnett's friends. Ramirez's family and friends described him during the hearing as a kind, nonviolent person whose second child was just one month old when he died. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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