A trial schedule was set for a 22-year-old Santa Clarita man being charged with second-degree murder in a 2023 Saugus crash that left his passenger dead.
On Monday, Judge Hilleri Merritt set a deadline of Sept. 2 to start trial for Raul Rosales Ramirez, a Canyon Country resident, who stands charged with second-degree murder in the death of Orlando Sales Gomez.
A pretrial conference is being scheduled for the week prior to assess case readiness, according to the minute order from Department J in the San Fernando Courthouse. The trial schedule was expected to last seven to 10 days.
The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office filed one count of murder the week following the crash, which happened while Ramirez — who was under 21 at the time of the crash — was on probation for a previous DUI charge, according to the office.
Through an interpreter, Ramirez previously rejected a plea offer of 15 years in state prison from the DA’s Office, just prior to the start of his preliminary hearing, according to a transcript of the hearing.
Ramirez was held to answer in July and pleaded not guilty a second time in August.
Ramirez has remained in custody since his arrest the day after Halloween in 2023. He’s currently being held at Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
The deputies who responded at 3:37 a.m. Nov. 1, 2023, to Bouquet Canyon Road, near Sutters Pointe Drive, said an Apple watch made a 911 notification to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
Sales, a 39-year-old Santa Clarita man, had sustained fatal injuries in the crash, according to an incident report.
Ramirez was trapped in the driver’s seat of the car due to the crash, which left his car smashed into a pole on the west side of the southbound lanes of Bouquet Canyon Road, according to the deputy’s testimony in the minute order.
There were multiple signs of impairment, including a heavy odor of alcohol on him, red eyes, slurred speech and an unsteady gait, according to testimony from Deputy Samuel Curameng in the minute order for the preliminary hearing.
Ramirez told Curameng that he had been driving and that he and Gomez had been on their way to get more alcohol, according to the transcript. He also testified that when Ramirez was given a breathalyzer test for his blood alcohol level three hours after the crash, it registered at 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit.
