The ex-girlfriend of the man who defense attorneys for accused triple murderer Edwin Ramos say actually fired the shots testified today that her then-boyfriend was at home the entire day of the 2008 shooting in San Francisco.
Ramos, 25, is charged with fatally shooting 48-year-old Anthony Bologna and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, in the city’s Excelsior District on June 22, 2008.
According to prosecutors, Ramos was an active member of the MS-13 gang and the shooting was in retaliation for a shooting that injured another MS-13 member, Marvin Medina, earlier that day, and that Ramos mistook the Bolognas for rival gang members.
Defense attorney Marla Zamora said in her opening statements at the trial that another gang member, Wilfredo “Flaco” Reyes, was the shooter from a car that Ramos was driving. Reyes is still at large.
Sally Melendez, 30, who had been dating Reyes for about three years and had a son with him, testified in court today that she did not see him leave their house the day of the shooting.
Melendez said she was also home all day because she was not feeling well.
Under cross-examination from Zamora, Melendez said she could not account for why Medina testified in the trial that Reyes had taken him to a hospital in Oakland after the earlier shooting that day.
“I have no idea,” she said.
Zamora also quizzed Melendez about a cellphone she shared with Reyes, saying data from cell towers shows that calls were made from around San Francisco and the East Bay that day.
Melendez, who was granted immunity by Judge Charles Haines at the start of the day for any incriminating information she might provide in her testimony, said she did not know how that might have happened.
Under direct examination from Assistant District Attorney Harry Dorfman, Melendez said she did not know much about MS-13 activities from Reyes.
“I didn’t really want to hear it,” she said.
But under cross-examination from Zamora, Melendez acknowledged she had also previously dated another MS-13 member, and also was detained by police multiple times with Reyes.
Melendez also discussed a June 2009 incident in which she allegedly used a stiletto heel to attack the girlfriend of another MS-13 gang member outside a San Francisco nightclub.
She denied police reports that she called the other woman a snitch.
“I called her a bitch,” she said.
Her attorney Joe O’Sullivan said assault charges in that case are still pending.
Melendez said she “wasn’t angry, just surprised” when she learned that Ramos told police Reyes shot the Bolognas.
She said the last time she saw or talked to Reyes was sometime in the week after the Bologna killings, and that she did not know where he went.
She said Reyes has not sent any money to help support their now 5-year-old son, but said “that doesn’t bother me that much.”
Melendez’s testimony ended for the day and will continue Thursday morning.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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