August 04, 2006 - As the parents of 13-year-old Michael Ramirez decried his killer's sentence as too short, former Sacramento Police Officer Jason March was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday for the drunken-driving, hit-and-run death of an Elk Grove boy last year.
"Mr. March, I've been on the bench for over 25 years, and it always amazes me that people don't understand the concept of 'Don't Drink and Drive,'" said Superior Court Judge Gary E. Ransom before handing down the sentence. "It is my fervent hope that your going to prison will keep at least one person in Sacramento from drinking and driving."
March, 30, pleaded no contest last month to charges of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and hit-and-run in the May 31, 2005 death of Ramirez, a Harriet Eddy Middle School seventh-grader who had just stepped off a school bus.
Ransom said the sentence reflected the maximum he could impose under the crimes charged, and District Attorney spokeswoman Lana Wyant said the charges fit March's crime. A charge of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, which carries a longer sentence, would have required March to commit a more flagrant driving violation - driving on the wrong side of the road, at excessive speeds or otherwise erratically, she said.
"It can't just be that he was driving drunk," she said. "And there wasn't any other (negligent) conduct in his driving."
After a half-hour hearing that featured a slide show of the boy's athletic accomplishments and life milestones, March's hands were handcuffed behind his back and he was taken to the Deuel Vocational Center in Tracy for evaluation and placement at a state prison.
He stood with his hands crossed in front of him and his eyes downcast for most of the hearing, occasionally appearing to blink back tears.
"I'm mortified," said Danielle Ramirez, who said March has remained unremorseful for the death of her son.
"Until the last moment, I was holding out hope that he would say something (remorseful), but nothing. That's what kind of person he is."
March, a three-year police veteran, was arrested after a passerby saw March's SUV run over the teen after he got off the bus and started to cross the road to retrieve a scooter he had stowed in the brambles that morning.
At the time of the accident, the off-duty officer's blood-alcohol level was about twice the legal limit because he had been drinking as he played golf with his buddies at Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course.
"I would trade places with Justin March in a second," said the boy's father, David Ramirez, as he struggled with his composure. "It would be much easier serving a five-year sentence than experiencing the pain that we're suffering."
More than 20 family members and friends attended the hearing, and formed a circle on the courthouse steps afterward to pray for the boy and for March.
"We thank you for this portion of justice that this court has brought us," said the Rev. Zacchaeus Dunham Jr., the boys' grandfather, who pleaded with Ransom to add time to the five-year sentence. "We're leaning on you, Lord, to bring us justice and to bring us peace."
www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14286547p-15103008c.html
