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The jury deliberating the fate of the Harlingen man convicted of attempted capital murder of his ex-girlfriend were sent home last night after District Attorney Toribio “Terry” Palacios made a deal with the man’s defense attorney, according to court staff.
Palacios offered 62-year-old Sigifredo Ramos Jr. a 25-year sentence to which Ramos accepted.
Jurors deliberated from 9:15 a.m. up until 10 p.m. Wednesday and had yet to reach a sentence when Palacios made the offer, according to a court staffer.
Sentencing deliberations started late Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday, Ramos was found not guilty of capital murder for the 2016 fatal stabbing of a 24-year-old Edinburg man and three counts of aggravated sexual assault.
However, the jury did convict him of attempted capital murder for stabbing Edinburg resident Diana De La Cerda on Sept. 25, 2016, the same day her son, Felipe Vega, died.
Ramos was also convicted of unlawful restraint.
Despite being stabbed multiple times, De La Cerda managed to ask a neighbor for help that fateful Sunday morning.
When police finally arrived at her residence in the 3100 block of Celeste Road in Edinburg, they found Felipe Vega’s lifeless body in his mother’s bedroom.
According to De La Cerda, who testified on Tuesday, she had woken her son up just before his morning shift at Walgreens because she was being chased by Ramos with a knife.
Felipe Vega died defending his mother.
Ramos left the two to die and was arrested not long after at a residence in the 28000 block of Rangerville Road in Harlingen.
During her testimony, De La Cerda revealed that she was told her son died after being transported to the hospital, but said she knew he was dead before that as she witnessed him draw his last breath.
She was next to him during the incident and remained unmoving as, according to De La Cerda, Ramos taunted her.
Police alleged that Ramos attacked her during an angry rage after her desire to end the relationship.
Ramos also testified and asked the jury to let him go home to take care of his sick mother.
His mother, Maria Garcia Ramos, and his sister, Nora Ramos, described him as a “good man.”
De La Cerda begged the jury not to let him go, stating that he took her son and said he didn’t deserve to be let free.
Ramos has been incarcerated since Sept. 27, 2016, where he wasn’t allowed to attend his father’s, his sister’s or his son’s funerals.
He and his family testified that he wasn’t allowed to attend the funerals of other family members as well and said he’s reflected on his actions during the seven years he’s spent behind bars.
Ramos added that he contracted COVID in prison and thought he was going to die there.
Prosecutor Magdalena Hinojosa told the jury during closing arguments in the sentencing phase that Ramos had given De La Cerda and her family a life sentence that day, a life without her son.
“Nothing’s ever been the same,” Felipe Vega’s sister, Criselda Crystal Vega, said during her testimony.
A look of longing fell across her face when Hinojosa presented her with pictures of Felipe Vega and she began to tear up.
She described her brother as reliable and loving and stated that they both had plans to join the military together.
Felipe Vega was never able to enlist.
His last message to his sister was an “I love you.”
