A Daly City man pleaded no contest to attempted voluntary manslaughter after using a knife to attack the man he found having an affair with his wife in their bedroom, with his three young children looking on.
Wilber Ismael Ortez Ramos, 37, also pleaded no contest to enhancements for great bodily injury and use of a deadly weapon, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. He will face a maximum of seven years in state prison.
The DA’s office was initially seeking a maximum sentence of 11 years and eight months, prosecutors added.
“We were asking for a good number of years, the judge put a seven year max on it, top on it,” said San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe. “(The prosecutor) felt that that would more than adequately cover it.”
Ortez Ramos was originally charged with attempted first degree murder with enhancements for causing great bodily injury in a domestic violence incident and use of a deadly weapon, prosecutors said. He also faced charges of mayhem – for disabling or disfiguring a body part – as well as assault with a deadly weapon, threatening death or great bodily injury and three counts of child endangerment, prosecutors said.
In September, a judge found that the evidence was insufficient to charge Ortez Ramos with attempted murder and the allegation that the act was premeditated and deliberate, prosecutors said.
Ortez Ramos’ wife did not want prosecution to continue, leading to the dropped child endangerment charges, and the victim was content with the seven-year sentence, Wagstaffe added.
“(His wife) wanted the case to go away, so we figured we’ve got a charge that gives us the sentencing range the court wants, and that will adequately cover the conduct here for what we have in terms of the witnesses,” Wagstaffe added.
Paul Wilkins, Ortez Ramos’ defense attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.
On May 30, Ortez Ramos returned home to find his wife having an affair with a co-worker, Jeronimo, prosecutors said. Ortez Ramos, searching his bedroom, found Jeronimo naked under the bed.
Ortez Ramos ordered Jeronimo to come out from under the bed, then exited the bedroom and returned with a 12-inch knife, prosecutors said. He announced three times that he was going to kill Jeronimo.
Ortez Ramos pushed his wife out of the way and swung the knife at Jeronimo’s face as his three young children, aged two, five and six, looked on, prosecutors said. Jeronimo blocked the blow with his arm, and the knife cut a deep gash and severed three tendons.
“No daddy don’t,” one of the children shouted just before he swung the knife, prosecutors added.
Jeronimo was able to grab the knife away from Ortez Ramos, and he then fled the apartment and went to the Broadmoor Police Department parking garage, where police found him by following the 370-foot-long trail of blood he left in his wake, prosecutors added.
Jeronimo’s injury required stitches and surgery to repair the tendons to regain functionality in his fingers, prosecutors added.
Ortez Ramos will next appear in court Feb. 18 for the imposition of his sentence.