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.

Today in Greene Superior Court, Raul Ramirez, the driver who pleaded guilty to driving drunk and causing the crash, was sentenced by Judge Dena Martin to 17 years in prison.

Raul Ramirez, 51 at the time of the crash, now 52, with a home address on East Blue Sky North, Springville, was expected to take his case to trial by jury but on June 11, he signed a negotiated plea agreement along with his defense attorney, Public Defender Alan Baughman, and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Keven McIntosh.

Ramirez then admitted his guilt in a change of plea hearing before Judge Martin and a sentencing hearing was scheduled for today, Monday, June 17.

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.

In keeping with the terms of the plea agreement, 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.

Under the terms of the agreement, sentencing was left to the discretion of the court, with Judge Martin on the bench. After Ramirez changed his plea, in preparation for sentencing, Judge Martin 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 sentence handed down by Judge Martin sends Ramirez to prison in the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC) for 17 years. No time was suspended but Ramirez was given credit for 223 days already served behind bars.

On Count 1, operating a vehicle while intoxicated with an alcohol concentration equal to or greater than .15, causing the death of Jeremiah Murphy, Ramirez was sentenced to 12 years.

On both of the other two counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with an alcohol concentration equal to or greater than .15, causing serious bodily injury to Kayla Faubion and Samantha Murphy, Ramirez was sentenced to 2.5 years on each count.

It all adds up to 17 years and the judge specified the sentences are to be served consecutively, or one after the other.

In pronouncing sentence, Judge Martin noted the aggravating and mitigating circumstances taken into consideration in determining the sentence. There were more aggravating circumstances than mitigating circumstances.

Mitigating circumstances included:

That Ramirez said he was remorseful for his actions and shortly after the crash, said he was sorry people were hurt.
That his family said Ramirez was a hardworking, good-hearted man that had a difficult childhood with his mother dying when he was a teen and his father frequently drinking alcohol.
That he had accepted responsibility for his actions by entering his pleas of guilty.

The aggravating circumstances included:

The harm, injury, loss or damage suffered by the victims of the offense was significant and greater than the elements necessary to prove the commission of the offenses. Samantha Murphy suffered a fractured skull and is now almost blind in one eye. Kayla Faubion suffered multiple fractured bones in the crash. Jeremiah Murphy is deceased.
Samantha Murphy was only four years old when the crash occurred.
Ramirez has recently violated the conditions of the court’s order for pretrial release in that he was not supposed to consume any alcoholic beverage but he tested positive for alcohol while out on bond. Also, Ramirez has violated conditions of probation numerous times during his extensive criminal career.
That Ramirez does have an extensive history of criminal and delinquent behavior. Among his many convictions, he has seven convictions for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and two findings of delinquency for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Ramirez has a total of 26 adjudications and convictions and yet continues to violate the law and the orders of the court.

In addition to the time, the court recommended Ramirez participate in the DOC’s substance abuse program and if he successfully completes it, the court could consider a modification of his sentence.

As long as he remains eligible, Ramirez can be allowed good-time credit but he must serve at least 75 percent of his time, which would be 12.75 years (or 12 years and nine months).

Background taken from previous stories about this case on GreeneStreets

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, involving two vehicles.

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.

The driver of the second vehicle, Raul Ramirez, was accused of driving drunk without a valid driver’s license in a stolen vehicle, crossing the center line and causing the crash.

The crash was under an ongoing investigation led by Detective James O’Malley of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department.

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, 2018.

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 had been 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.