Ramirez

FACTS

A. The Assault

On February 24, 2016, a fight broke out in “day room No. 4” among inmates at

Southwest Detention Center in Riverside County. A day room is a type of recreation or

common room where the inmates generally are allowed to spend about an hour a day, and

where, according to jail staff, they tend to congregate or self-segregate according to race.

At trial, the prosecution showed the jury multiple surveillance videos of the fight

from different angles. The footage, which we have reviewed, shows about 20 inmates

enter day room 4. After about five minutes, two inmates—Albert Ramirez and Arturo

Guerrero—appear to exchange words.2 Albert walks away from Guerrero then quickly

walks towards him while making waiving motions to the other inmates. Albert puts his

2 Albert Ramirez was not tried with defendants. To avoid confusion with appellant Jamie Ramirez we will refer to Albert by his first name. 3 fingers in his mouth briefly before lunging at Guerrero and punching him. After Albert

has thrown several blows, five other inmates join in. The fight lasts just over a minute,

and Guerrero walks away when it’s over.

The surveillance footage has no sound, but a…