Two hung juries result in plea deal for Washington man

After two trials ended with hung juries, a Washington man entered a plea deal with prosecutors.

Elmer Alberto Ramirez, 40, was accused of sexual abuse in the second degree, a Class B felony.

Ramirez was tried in front of a jury in March 2021. After the jury was hung and unable to reach a verdict, prosecutors tried Ramirez a second time in August 2021, leading to another hung jury.

As a result, the Washington County Attorney’s Office agreed to allow Ramirez to plead guilty to harassment in the third degree on Sept. 3.

In a press release last week, Washington County Attorney John Gish said the decision to reach a plea deal was made in part to avoid further trauma to the victim.

In December 2019, a 10-year-old child disclosed to their principal they were sexually abused by Ramirez between 2014 and 2016 while the child was being babysat by Ramirez’s wife.

According to prosecutors, during an interview with an investigator in December 2019, Ramirez admitted to being left alone with the children in his wife’s care, but when he was asked about allegations of sexual abuse, Ramirez changed his story and claimed he was never left alone with the children.

Through both trials and the investigation, the child gave a consistent description of the abuse they endured.

“This child has more guts than a lot of the soldiers I have worked with,” Gish said. “Testifying in trial is already stressful enough, so it would be unimaginable to talk about being sexually abused in front of your abuser and a room of strangers.”

Gish said that in sexual abuse cases, it is rare to have evidence that corroborates a victim’s testimony, but under Iowa law, corroboration of a victim’s testimony is unnecessary to find a defendant guilty.

In the prosecution of Ramirez, some evidence could not be presented to the jury, Gish said.

Testimony of Ramirez’s extra-marital affairs and evidence of nearly 1,000 nude and pornographic images on Ramirez’s cell phone were considered too prejudicial.

And by law, prosecutors could not show the jury a video interview of the child at the Child Protection Center from December 2019 where the child discussed the sexual abuse to an expert in childhood trauma.

Gish acknowledged the difficulty in prosecuting cases of sexual abuse, saying, “We will continue to take on sexual abuse cases because it is the right thing to do. But we cannot get justice on our own; justice requires a jury to believe survivors of sexual abuse."

"To the child and the child's family that suffered from Ramirez's abuse, I believe you."