Just before noon today, A Kenosha jury of seven women and five men convicted Victor H. Ramos of the July 29, 2021 murder of Hector Rodriguez-Rojas.

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According to the criminal complaint, Ramos shot Rodriguez-Rojas multiple times from his Porsche SUV in the middle of the road just before 5pm on July 29, 2021. Rodriguez-Rojas, who was on a moped and mortally wounded, walked into the San Luis grocery store to ask for someone to call 9-1-1. He then collapsed and died on scene.

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The evidence was overwhelming, and it took the jury less than 20 minutes to unanimously find Ramos guilty of first degree intentional murder. Kenosha County DA Michael Graveley and Assistant District Attorney Alex Huber were the prosecuting attorneys and defense attorney Michael Kopp represented Ramos for a 6-day trial.

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Ramos took the stand in his own defense and claimed that he thought Rodriguez-Rojas rear-ended him and threatened to “pop” him when confronted. There was no evidence of a rear-end crash or Rodriguez-Rojas making any threats.

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The evidence, however, showed a crime of rage. Ramos asked his friend to remove the murder weapons and texted friends that “Op got smoked.” Seasoned homicide prosecutor Michael Graveley was able to get Ramos to contradict himself several times. For example, first Ramos said he shot the man in self-defense, but later said he closed his eyes and shot just to scare him.

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Ramos will be sentenced on February 2, 2023. Murder comes with it a mandatory life sentence.

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The Victim

After the verdict, KCE was able to speak with the family of Hector Rodriguez-Rojas. His life partner, Simone Turner shared some warm details with us.

Simone met Hector in 2007 through mutual friends right after she moved to Kenosha. They began to date very soon thereafter. They built a family with seven children from ages one to seventeen. Their final child together would be a very special surprise.

Very shortly after Hector’s passing, Simone learned that she was pregnant for the seventh time. Kamilah would be born almost exactly 9 months after Hector’s passing. Although he wasn’t on this earth any longer, he still helped chose her name. For the child born just before Kamilah, they both created a list of boy and girl names. “Kamilah” was on the list approved by both mom and dad.

“Hector was very funny. He either had a smile on his face or was making you smile. He was smart – at 17 years old, he took apart the engine to his car fixed what was wrong and put it back together. He was kind – he would donate things and clothing to kids in the neighborhood that needed things. Any homeless person he saw, he always gave money to. If he saw a car on the side of the road that was disabled, he would pull over and help them no matter what it was. If they ran out of gas, he would give them money. If they needed to change their tire, he would stop and help them, If they were stuck in a ditch, he would pull them out. It didn’t matter who you were where you came from he would always help you. He was like that with the family – to anybody who ever needed anything new that they could call Hector and he would be there and he would help them…… He always put his family first.” Simone told KCE.

Simone told KCE that she wasn’t surprised by the verdict, but it still caused emotion. She hopes that the guilty verdict will help her family to heal. Simone and her children were a little nervous that Ramos would one day be back in the community. This verdict, she says, will help them to know that he will never be in public again.

Anybody who would like to help the young family can do so by clicking here.