On Friday, May 18 in 2018, Jeremiah Murphy lost his life in a horrific crash involving two vehicles in eastern Greene County. Murphy’s two passengers, including his young child, were very seriously injured. Yesterday in Greene Superior Court, Raul Ramirez, accused of driving drunk and causing the crash, pleaded guilty to three felonies.

Raul Ramirez, 51 at the time of the crash, now 52, with a home address on East Blue Sky North, Springville, is incarcerated in the Greene County Jail and appeared in court yesterday for a final pre-trial conference.

The case was expected to go to trial by jury on June 11, but yesterday Ramirez signed a negotiated plea agreement along with his defense attorney, Public Defender Alan Baughman, and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Keven McIntosh.

The pre-trial conference turned into a change of plea hearing and Ramirez admitted his guilt before Greene Superior Judge Dena Martin.

Ramirez was initially charged with six criminal counts. He has now been convicted of these three counts:

Operating a vehicle causing a death while intoxicated with an alcohol concentration equivalent to .15 or more, a Level 4 felony, and
Two counts of operating a vehicle causing serious bodily injury while intoxicated with an alcohol concentration equivalent to at least .08 or more, both Level 6 felonies.

Three other counts have been dismissed including: Operating a vehicle causing a death while intoxicated with an alcohol concentration equivalent to at least .08 or more with a previous conviction of operating a vehicle while intoxicated within the 10 previous years, a Level 4 felony; auto theft involving theft of the entire vehicle, a Level 6 felony; and operating a vehicle while driver’s license is suspended or revoked – a knowing or intentional violation, with a prior conviction, a Class A misdemeanor.

The crash was under an ongoing investigation led by Detective James O’Malley of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department. Ramirez was accused of driving drunk without a valid driver’s license in a stolen vehicle, crossing the center line and causing the crash. As a result of the investigation, a criminal case was filed against Ramirez and he was taken into custody and booked into jail on Monday, July 23.

The crash occurred around 9:30 p.m. on May 18, 2018, near the address of 58 North State Road 45 at Carmichael Road, in rural Bloomfield.

Jeremiah Murphy, 37, was the driver of a 2000 Mercury Mystique. Kayla Faubion, 31, and Samantha Murphy, age four, were passengers in Murphy’s vehicle.

Ramirez was the driver of a 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora which was registered to his ex-wife, who had left her vehicle at his house for him to install a thermostat. She contacted the sheriff’s department to report the vehicle as stolen and said Ramirez did not have permission to drive it. O’Malley reported that Ramirez confirmed her story and admitted he took it without permission.

A records check showed Ramirez did not have a valid driver’s license – it was suspended and he knew it. And, Ramirez had a prior conviction for operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person.

Two probable cause documents prepared by Det. O’Malley pointed to substantial evidence and witness testimony to support the criminal charges filed against Ramirez.

Ramirez was employed by a construction company and O’Malley called to verify the hours Ramirez worked on the day of the crash. A supervisor said Ramirez was scheduled to work a 12-hour shift that ended at 7 p.m. but Ramirez only worked 10 hours and left at 5 p.m.

The owner of a tavern in Ellettsville said his employees were familiar with Ramirez and a bartender recalled Ramirez was there around 7:30 p.m. and drank a couple of beers.

A search warrant was granted for the vehicle Ramirez was driving and when executed, O’Malley reported deputies found a cooler with unopened Coke, Budweiser, Wild Turkey whiskey and Gatorade. They also found an empty bottle of Budweiser and assorted prescription medication bottles, all prescribed to Ramirez, one containing a cyclobenzaprine medication with a warning that it causes drowsiness. O’Malley wrote that in an interview, Ramirez, who said he takes prescribed Xanax and hydrocodone, said he didn’t take any medication on the day of the crash because he was out of his medication.

According to O’Malley, Ramirez admitted drinking alcohol before the crash and said he had consumed a couple of beers and a shot of whiskey that day, around 7:30 p.m., at a friend’s house, then was driving southbound on SR 45 toward his home in East Blue Sky.

When Murphy’s passenger, Kayla Faubion, was interviewed, she explained she and Murphy were northbound on SR 45 with their daughter Samantha to go to the Dollar General Store. She said they saw the vehicle coming toward them at what she thought was a high rate of speed and Murphy commented that the vehicle was swerving in its lane. She told him to pull over then turned to check on Samantha in the back seat when the crash occurred. She remembers the noise.

Jeremiah Murphy was pronounced dead on the scene.

Kayla Faubion was transported to IU Health Bloomington Hospital with injuries that included broken ribs, broken medial scapular, broken left arm, broken T-1 and T-7 of the spine and a broken neck.

Samantha Murphy was first transported to IU Health Bloomington then airlifted to Riley Hospital in Indianapolis due to her age and the severity of her injuries which included a brain bleed and a fractured skull.

Ramirez was also injured and transported to IU Health Bloomington Hospital where he consented to a blood draw, taken at 1:22 a.m., that was sent to the Indiana Department of Toxicology for analysis. When the results came back in mid-June, they showed Ramirez had a blood-alcohol concentration equivalent to .146. The legal limit is .08.

Indiana State Police Trooper Eric Russell, a crash scene reconstructionist, was also assigned to this investigation. He concluded the crash occurred in the northbound lane, which was the lane Murphy’s vehicle was in, that Ramirez had traveled left of center, evidenced by the gouges in the pavement in the area of impact, and that the damage on both vehicles was centered on the driver’s side front.

In addition, in the execution of the search warrant on the vehicle driven by Ramirez, Trooper Russell retrieved information from the vehicle’s Event Data Recorder and reported the speed of the vehicle was 66 mph one second before the impact. He also reported the brake switch circuit was not activated - the brakes were not applied at any time during the eight seconds before and up to the moment of impact.

Ramirez is now convicted, but he has not been sentenced.

Under the terms of the agreement, sentencing is left to the discretion of the court, with Judge Martin on the bench.

However, the agreement does specify that for whatever sentence is handed down to Ramirez, the court will recommend he be accepted into the Indiana Department of Correction’s (DOC) Purposeful Incarceration Program.

In preparation for sentencing, Judge Martin has ordered the Greene County Probation Department to prepare a pre-sentence investigation report and ordered Greene County Community Corrections to evaluate Ramirez for alternative sentencing.

The jury trial date has been vacated and the court has now scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 17.