By Zach Patberg
Ramon Ramos, 46, of Brooklyn, was arrested nine years after the attack when the medical examiner matched the DNA found on the rape victim to DNA taken from Ramos after his conviction for robbing a child in Queens in 1997. He is currently serving a 15 years to life prison sentence in the robbery case.”If not for the DNA databank, the defendant stood a very good chance of getting away with this heinous crime,” said DA Richard Brown, pointing out that the crucial evidence was filed less than 90 days before the statute of limitations expired.Brown used the case as an example of why the state's DNA databank should be expanded and the statute of limitations eliminated.According to court testimony, on July 8, 1993 the victim, now 37, was visiting a friend at an apartment near Austin Street and accidently took an elevator heading down instead of up. When the doors opened to the basement, Ramos pulled her from the elevator and raped her and robbed her of $100, the DA said.Bloodied and beaten, the woman, who later testified at the trial, went up to her friend's apartment, where the police were called and she was taken to the hospital.After a one-week trial, in which Ramos chose to represent himself and not appear at any of the proceedings, a jury of eight men and four woman found him guilty Jan. 11 of first-degree rape, sodomy and robbery. During the trial prosecutors proved that semen taken off the victim came from the defendant.”DNA evidence is virtually irrefutable proof of guilt,” Brown said.Queens Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman set Feb. 1 as a sentencing date for the Brooklyn man, who faces up to 20 years to life in jail on top of his current sentence.
