FRESNO, Calif. (AP) – A California man who used a woman he took hostage as a human shield from police gunfire after a deadly bank robbery and car chase was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison in an emotional hearing.
Jaime Ramos, 22, pleaded guilty last year in a deal with prosecutors to avoid a possible death sentence at trial. The 2014 robbery and chase through Stockton, 80 miles inland from San Francisco, ended in the deaths of two other suspects and Misty Holt-Singh, a 41-year-old wife, mother of two and bank customer who was taken hostage.
Ramos didn’t speak in court, but Holt-Singh’s mother stood to say a few words about her daughter before breaking down in tears. Somebody had to read her statement for her, San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau said.
Two other women who were taken hostage but survived did not to attend the sentencing, finding it too difficult emotionally, Himelblau said. The plea deal avoids a stressful trial where they would have to relive the horror by testifying, he said.
“It makes sure that Ramos never sees the light of day again,” the prosecutor said.