Witnesses testify in home invasion case

MANSFIELD - There is no doubt in Jason O'Neal's mind that defendant Christian Ramirez is the same man who entered his girlfriend's home last June and shot their dog, O'Neal testified Thursday.

"That tattoo and that voice I will never forget. Never ever," O'Neal said. "That tattoo on his left hand and those black Nike boots."

O'Neal described seeing a man with a gray hooded sweatshirt pulled up around his eyes standing in the bedroom doorway holding a gun. The intruder was visibly shaking and asking, "Where the weed? Where the money? Where the weed? Where the money?"

The intruder had a large tattoo on his left hand and arm and a voice with "a distinctive twang to it," O'Neal testified.

According to O'Neal's testimony, his dog, a black Boxer named Jumanji, started to move. That's when the intruder shot the dog and ran away, he said.

O'Neal and his girlfriend, Uvons Burns, were the state's first witnesses Thursday in the first of two cases against Marcelluis Luckie and Christen Ramirez.

Luckie and Ramirez are charged in connection with two home invasions — one June 24, 2015, in the 225 Greenlawn Ave. home where Burns lived and O'Neal was staying and the other two days later at 222 E. Second St., where  Myron "Pernell" Webb was stabbed 25 times. Both cases are being tried at the same time in Richland County Common Pleas Court with Judge Brent Robinson.

In the first case, Luckie, 43, and Ramirez, 36, are charged with aggravated burglary and two counts of aggravated robbery, all with gun specifications. Ramirez also is charged with a misdemeanor count of injuring animals, and Luckie faces a complicity count on that charge.

In the second case, both defendants are charged with two counts of aggravated murder, four counts of kidnapping, aggravated robbery and robbery — all with firearm and repeat violent offender specifications — and tampering with evidence.

Burns took the stand first, crying as she testified about how she awoke to the sound of the intruder and realized that what was happening was not a dream. Burns said she was worried about her two children, who were in another bedroom.

O'Neal testified that on the night of June 23, he saw Ramirez and Luckie together in a black Pontiac Grand Prix in the parking lot of the American Legion, where he was on the back patio. Luckie was in the driver's seat, O'Neal said. The witness said he had not consumed alcohol that night. O'Neal said he noticed the pair  staring at him, first from the vehicle and again later, when he saw  them inside.

O'Neal said he did not know who Ramirez was at the time, but he did know Luckie. When asked by Assistant Prosecutor Cliff Murphy if O'Neal had an ax to grind against Luckie, O'Neal said, "Yes." Murphy asked whether there was bad blood between them and O'Neal again answered in the affirmative.

O'Neal noted that at the American Legion, Ramirez was wearing black Nike ACG boots, which O'Neil recognized because he, too, owns a pair. The intruder was wearing the same type of boots, O'Neal said.

After O'Neal left the Legion with Burns, who was tending bar for dollar drink night, the couple had a dispute, O'Neal testified. She went to bed, and he went outside and smoked a blunt before getting into the bed with her. He said he fell asleep and awoke to the sound of the intruder asking Burns where the money and weed were.

The intruder fired one shot and fled.

While Burns called police, O'Neal ran after the intruder but could not see where he went.

After hearing about the second home invasion, O'Neal testified,  he went to talk to Webb's fiancee, Shamille Chapman, and exchanged information. He then identified Ramirez on Facebook.

Later, O'Neal learned Ramirez was at a home on Granite Street. O'Neal said he went to Granite Street, where he saw Ramirez get out the driver's seat of a black Pontiac Grand Prix, the same type of vehicle Luckie was driving at the Legion.

O'Neal said he recognized Ramirez's voice and tattoo as the same as the intruder's. The witness then confessed to telling police he "beat the brakes off" Ramirez when the defendant started to run away.

Standing in the courtroom to demonstrate his motions, O'Neal explained that he choked Ramirez and then punched the defendant while he was in a choke hold. O'Neal testified that he continued to "beat up" Ramirez until O'Neal's pacemaker shocked him.

O'Neal said as he was beating Ramirez, Ramirez said, "I'm sorry," but O'Neal said, "Sorry isn't good enough."

"I was violated. I didn't bother nobody," O'Neal said, crying.

During cross examination, Luckie's attorney, Robert Whitney, emphasized that O'Neal only saw one intruder. Whitney also questioned O'Neal about the effect the marijuana had on O'Neal, who said the blunt relaxed him.

Whitney pointed out discrepancies between O'Neal's original police statement and the statements he made to law enforcement later and repeated in court. O'Neal admitted he first said the gun may have been black and silver and later said it was just black, and he also said the intruder's tattoo was on the right hand and then changed that to the left. O'Neal said he may have misspoken because he was shaken up after the home invasion.

O'Neal will return to the stand Friday, when Ramirez's attorney, Bernie Davis, will cross-examine him.

ceday@gannett.com

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