Dennis RomeroUpdated at the bottom of the next page with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck saying that, although more investigation is needed, cops think Ramirez is still their man.
His lawyer says Bryan Stow beating suspect Giovanni Ramirez didn't do it — that he has an alibi for the opening-day Dodger Stadium assault that made national headlines.
Also, while Ramirez has a teardrop tattoo right under his left eye, the sketch of the suspect shows a mole lower on his left cheek (see photo after the jump).
But a lineup tonight featuring Ramirez appeared to lead to at least one witness fingering him. The LAPD issued a statement that reads, in part, that “the department is satisfied with the results” of the lineup.
As a result, the department says it's taking its evidence to the District Attorney's office for prosecution … someday: “At the appropriate time detectives will present a case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office.”
Credit: streetgangs.com
Attorney Anthony Brocklier told reporters that “quite often witnesses think they're telling the truth” but it doesn't mean the ID was accurate.
“I'm not going to say he's the citizen of the year,” the attorney told reporters. But “we have an innocent client … Not just that they can't prove it, but that we have an actually innocent client.”
And note that Ramirez's photo was accidentally released to the media, and some outlets briefly published it — possibly tainting any ID for people who might have subliminally placed his face in their heads as the suspect.
Lawyers for Ramirez and his family say he was babysitting his 10-year-old daughter the day of the assault and that she can testify to that claim.
Update: At a news conference Thursday morning LAPD Chief Charlie beck said that more investigation in the case is still needed, there's still a $250,000 reward for information leading to the Stow beating suspects, and “we are still looking at over 700 clues.”
And while he wouldn't discuss the results of yesterday's lineup, saying only that it “added to our group of evidence,” but he did emphasize that Ramirez “is and was and has been our primary suspect.''
“I'm as sure as you need to be,” he said.
Ramirez attorney Anthony Brooklier, meanwhile, said his client “is willing to take a police polygraph” to prove he wasn't at the game that day.
-With reporting from City News Service. Got news? Email us. Follow us on Twitter, too: @dennisjromero.
First posted at 10:59 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25.
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