By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH
An Orange County man pleaded not guilty Monday to more than three dozen counts of attempted murder, among other charges, for allegedly driving his car into a crowd outside an East Hollywood nightclub.
Fernando Ramirez, 29, of San Clemente, was charged July 22 with 37 counts each of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. He could face a life prison sentence if convicted as charged.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Theresa McGonigle ordered Ramirez to return to court Oct. 28, when a date will be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for him to stand trial. Ramirez remains jailed in lieu of just over $37 million bail.
The charges “correspond to each of the 37 victims that suffered injuries as a result of Mr. Ramirez’s actions,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said shortly after the case was filed.
Ramirez is also facing allegations he inflicted great bodily harm on eight of the victims who suffered injuries including fractures, lacerations and broken bones, Hochman said.
The crash occurred just before 2 a.m. July 19 near The Vermont Hollywood on the 1000 block of North Vermont Avenue.
Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Ben Fernandes told the Los Angeles Times that Ramirez had been kicked out of the nightclub for being disruptive before he crashed into the crowd.
A previous arraignment date for Ramirez had been postponed while he recovered from a gunshot wound he suffered following the crash — a shooting in which another man was subsequently ordered to stand trial.
Hochman said Ramirez is accused of “intentionally driving his car onto the sidewalk near The Vermont Hollywood,” and that the defendant “drove that car onto the sidewalk” and “aimed it at a whole sea of pedestrians that were in front of him.”
The district attorney called it a “brazen act” that “could have been catastrophic.”
Following the crash, Ramirez was pulled from the vehicle and shot in the back as onlookers set upon him, according to police. Ramirez was then taken into custody.
The suspect in the shooting — Efrain Villalobos, 28, of Lawndale — is charged with one felony count each of assault with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Villalobos, who allegedly fled the chaotic crash and shooting scene, was taken into custody Aug. 3 by Redondo Beach police and subsequently turned over to LAPD detectives.
Speaking at the July 23 news conference with Hochman, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell called the crash “an unprovoked act of violence,” adding that it “turned a popular night-life district into a scene of trauma and fear.”
“It is truly a miracle that nobody was killed that night,” the chief said.
Seven people were hospitalized in critical condition, six were seriously injured, and 10 were hospitalized in fair condition. Others were assessed at the scene and declined hospital transport.
Ramirez has a lengthy criminal record in Orange County dating back to 2014.
He was convicted Oct. 17, 2019, of a felony count of battery with serious bodily injury, with a sentencing enhancement for a hate crime and a misdemeanor count of hate crime for sucker-punching a Black Whole Foods employee in Laguna Beach in June 2019, according to court records. But the hate crime count and enhancement were overturned on appeal in January 2021 and then dismissed March 26, 2021.
He was sentenced to six years in prison in January 2020 for the hate crime attack, but after those charges were dismissed, he was re-sentenced to four years in prison.
Ramirez is currently also charged with domestic battery causing injury with a prior conviction for violence and a misdemeanor count of violating a protective-stay-away order for an alleged attack on a girlfriend in San Juan Capistrano on Jan. 28, 2022, according to court records. That case is still pending.
Ramirez is also awaiting trial for allegedly driving drunk in Fountain Valley last Aug. 12.
He pleaded guilty in December 2021 to a misdemeanor count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and two counts of resisting arrest on Sept. 11, 2021. Prosecutors said in court papers that he resisted arrest after he grabbed a woman by the hair and slammed her into a three-foot-tall cinder block.
Ramirez also pleaded guilty in December 2021 to a misdemeanor count of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant on Aug. 24, 2021.
He pleaded guilty to corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and child abuse, both misdemeanors, in June of 2018. He pleaded guilty to felony counts of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and gang-related battery in December 2014.