Word got out that Ramos was on the stand. Curious spectators packed the courtroom.
Monday, Ramos told the court he was not the shooter June 22, 2008. He said it was a passenger in his car, a gang member called Flaco, who shot and killed Tony Bologna and two of his sons after mistaking them for rival gang members.
Ramos' lawyer Marla Zamora Tuesday continued asking Ramos about the days after the shooting. Ramos said he lied to police that he was home that Sunday because he was afraid for his wife and young child's safety if he talked. He said Flaco told him, "If they get to you, you know what we can do to your family, right?"
Zamora asked Ramos point blank if he was a member of a faction of MS-13, the violent Central American gang. He said he was not.
Ramos said he and Flaco had been aimlessly cruising the streets the day of the shooting. He said, "If I had turned on the right street, those people wouldn't have died."
When it was prosecutor Harry Dorfman's turn to cross examine Ramos he wasted no time zeroing in on his web of lies to police investigators.
"What's a lie?" Dorfman asked.
Ramos replied, "When you don't tell the truth."
Dorfman then listed them one after another -- the lie about his being home at the time, the lie about finding no shell casings in his car, the reason why he washed his car the day after.
Ramos' answers appeared evasive.
"I was scared for my family... I dont remember... My memory faded, it was four years ago... I dont know why..."
ABC7 legal analyst Dean Johnson says it was extremely risky to put Ramos on the stand.
"There's an old saying in the courthouse that the case always gets better for the prosecution when the defendant takes the stand," Johnson said.
Ramos appeared uncomfortable during the cross examination, which will continue Wednesday.
