A Goshen man who got off the hook for murder will still have to serve his prison sentence in another matter.
24-year-old Diego Ramos appealed his two-and-a-half year prison sentence for synthetic identity deception and counterfeiting government documents.
The Elkhart Truth reports he tried to claim that the sentence wasn’t appropriate for the nature of his offense and his character, and that he shouldn’t have been ordered to pay fines and costs because the court didn’t determine his ability to pay. He was ordered to pay $1,500 in fines and fees as part of the sentence.
Ramos was brought to the United States illegally at the age of three. He was charged in 2015 with using the identity of someone named Francisco, along with falsifying Michigan documents to gain employment.
The appellate court’s decision notes his past run-ins with the law. However, it did side with Ramos somewhat when it ordered Elkhart County courts to hold an indigency hearing to determine his ability to pay the fines and fees.
Ramos was found not guilty of murdering Jose Nava-Orozco and Marco Carmona-Gonzalez in their Goshen home in March 2016. His suspected accomplice, Luis Rivas, refused to testify against him. Rivas was given a 12-year sentence for assisting a criminal.
