DC Superior Court Judge Todd Edleman granted a motion to modify a homicide defendant’s home confinement conditions on Sept. 2.
Jose Ramos, 38, is charged with second-degree murder while armed for his alleged involvement in the fatal beating of Eduardo Cruz, 58, on the 3700 block of Georgia Avenue, NE on Jan. 25, 2022.
Defense attorney Alvin Thomas motioned to modify Ramos’ current 24-hour home confinement with permission to attend his two jobs and alcoholic anonymous (AA) meetings. The new motion sought additional permissions for the defendant to care for his aging father and attend a religious class.
These new requests would have the defendant released from home confinement from 6 a. m. to 9 p. m. on Tuesdays.
The prosecution did not object to the request regarding the defendant’s father, but objected to the the request for the class. The prosecutor said attending a religion class was “optional” and not necessary for religious practice. The prosecution also voiced concerns about the amount of time the defendant would spend outside of the previously ruled 24-hour confinement.
Judge Edelman found neither request to be unusual and stated that the court is “not in the position to say what is or is not essential to someone’s religion.”
The judge granted the motion, noting that the defendant was “unusually responsible” during home confinement, and claimed he didn’t think these requests would create an issue for community safety.
Parties are set to reconvene on Sept. 12.
