Sonia Ramos

Witness for the People:  Guilt Phase

September 30, 2004

Direct Examination by Rick Distaso

DISTASO: Agent Ramos, you work for the San Diego Department of Justice? California Department of Justice.

RAMOS: That’s right. San Diego unit.

DISTASO: Yes, correct. And in April of 2003 were you involved in the surveillance of Mr. Peterson?

RAMOS: Yes, I was.

DISTASO: On the 16th, let me just ask you this, when did you start that? When did you start your surveillance? What week?

RAMOS: On April 14th, 2003.

DISTASO: On April 14th was any surveillance done of Mr. Peterson?

RAMOS: No, we did not see Mr. Peterson.

DISTASO: Okay. Were you looking for him?

RAMOS: Yes, we were.

DISTASO: Okay. Did you find him?

RAMOS: No.

DISTASO: What about on the 15th?

RAMOS: No, we did not find Mr. Peterson.

DISTASO: What about on the 16th?

RAMOS: Yes, we did.

DISTASO: All right. On the 16th, when did you personally first see Mr. Peterson?

RAMOS: I saw him early in the morning, at about 9:45 leaving, the residence of, on La Cresta Drive.

DISTASO: And his appearance, did it look different than you see him here in court today?

RAMOS: Yes.

DISTASO: Okay. What, let's just kind of go through what happened. What kind of car were you driving?

RAMOS: I was driving a white Honda Accord.

DISTASO: And where did you follow him to?

RAMOS: First of all, he was on foot, so we followed him on foot to the Ocean Beach area in San Diego. And, and then we surveilled him in a vehicle on that same day, same morning.

DISTASO: All right. When you, when he was on foot, did, at some point during that surveillance did it appear to you that Mr. Peterson recognized that you were following him?

RAMOS: Yes.

GERAGOS: Objection. Calls for speculation.

JUDGE: Overruled.

DISTASO: And tell us why did you think that, or what happened.

RAMOS: When he was on foot, he would go in a direction and then turn around. I saw him go down an alleyway, and I continued to drive in the same direction but paralleling that alleyway. And as I came out on a different street, he was standing on a corner and watched and smiled at me as I drove by.

DISTASO: When, at some point during that day, on the 16th, did Mr. Peterson have some contact with you in some way?

RAMOS: On the 16th? No.

DISTASO: Was there a time when Mr. Peterson followed you and honked his horn?

RAMOS: Yes.

DISTASO: Okay. What day was that?

RAMOS: The same day, the 16th.

DISTASO: Okay. Can you tell us what time that was?

RAMOS: I would have to refer to my reports.

DISTASO: Go ahead.

JUDGE: Go ahead.

RAMOS: It was sometime between 11:00, 11:00 o'clock and 11:40 in the morning.

DISTASO: And let's, just tell the jury what happened. Were you following Mr. Peterson?

RAMOS: I was trying to follow Mr. Peterson. Eventually he got behind me and followed me through several streets in the Ocean Beach area and made different turns with me and came up behind me. And as I came to a stop sign, he came, he, he basically went up on the side of me, next to me at the stop sign, as we were both at the stop. That's when he honked at me and looked at me.

DISTASO: Okay. And did anything else happen?

RAMOS: No. I made a turn and he continued.

DISTASO: Did you have any further contact with Mr. Peterson on the 16th?

RAMOS: No.

DISTASO: On the 17th did you, did you personally surveil Mr. Peterson?

RAMOS: Yes.

DISTASO: Okay. What happened?

RAMOS: Let me refer to my report.

DISTASO: Go ahead.

RAMOS: I have to make a correction. On the 17th I was out on a surveillance trying to locate Mr. Peterson. I left after my shift and did not see Mr. Peterson again until the 18th.

DISTASO: On the 18th were you part of the surveillance that eventually ended up in Mr. Peterson's arrest?

RAMOS: Yes.

DISTASO: And what time did you join that surveillance?

RAMOS: I joined a little bit after 6:00 o'clock in the morning.

DISTASO: And were you part of the surveillance throughout the whole morning until approximately 11:00 or 11:05?

RAMOS: I had to catch up with the surveillance team. I was coming from home, so they were moving already at the time when I joined the surveillance.

DISTASO: Did you, after Mr. Peterson was arrested, did you come into possession of some money that had been collected from Mr. Peterson's car by Special Agent Quick?

RAMOS: Yes, I did.

DISTASO: Okay. And did you take that money at some point and count it?

RAMOS: Yes.

DISTASO: How much was it?

RAMOS: 10,000 dollars in a white envelope, and 285 dollars and 20 cents that was in his possession.

DISTASO: During the surveillance, prior to the arrest, was there a, a time when you fish-tailed your car or had some issue with your car?

RAMOS: Yes, I did.

DISTASO: Okay. About what time in the morning was that?

RAMOS: I, I would say anywhere between 7:00 in the morning and 8:00 in the morning.

DISTASO: And what caused that to happen?

RAMOS: We were following Mr. Peterson up through a residential area of Solana Beach. I'm not familiar with the area. There's a lot of windy turns, a lot of sharp turns. And as I was trying to slow down my speed, because we were going at a fast rate of speed, I, the back end of my car started to fish-tail.

DISTASO: After Mr. Peterson was arrested, did he make some comment to you about that?

RAMOS: Yes, he did.

DISTASO: And what did he say?

RAMOS: He apologized to me and said that he was sorry. He asked if I was the person that almost got in an accident, and I said yes, I was. He said he didn't mean to cause any harm, that he thought we were the media

DISTASO: Nothing further, your Honor.

Cross Examination by Mark Geragos

GERAGOS: I assume you were undercover, good afternoon. I assume you were undercover?

RAMOS: Yes.

GERAGOS: When you were surveilling him, you didn't do anything to let him know that you were police, correct?

RAMOS: On which day?

GERAGOS: Until you actually pulled him over?

RAMOS: On the 18th?

GERAGOS: On the 18th. Is that correct?

RAMOS: Did I do anything? I'm sorry.

GERAGOS: Did you do anything to let him know that you were police?

RAMOS: No.

GERAGOS: Okay. And I'm showing you what's been marked as D 6 W dash 5. Is that your car right there, the white Honda Accord?

RAMOS: Yes.

GERAGOS: And that's the license plate number?

RAMOS: Yes, that's correct.

GERAGOS: Okay. Are these cars that are listed here, do those look like most probably some of the other surveillance vehicles that were following behind him at various times?

RAMOS: Yes.

GERAGOS: Okay. And the place where you, you said you fish-tailed, is that, you were slowing down, I guess, and applied your brakes?

RAMOS: Correct.

GERAGOS: Okay. As you did that, did you make some kind of a noise or the car spun?

RAMOS: It didn't completely spin around. I got control of the vehicle.

GERAGOS: And were you behind him at that point?

RAMOS: I was either directly behind him or two cars behind.

GERAGOS: Okay. And this was on a two-lane road?

RAMOS: Correct.

GERAGOS: Okay. And when you approached him, he at that point had already been pulled over and obviously, and pulled his car over?

RAMOS: Correct.

GERAGOS: And at that point that was when the Department of Justice had let it be known that they were law enforcement, correct?

RAMOS: Right. When they arrested him.

GERAGOS: Okay. You realized that, when you approached him, he asked if you were the person who was behind him, who I suppose in his rear view mirror he had seen fish-tail?

RAMOS: He asked me the question after we brought him back to our office. So, some time had passed.

GERAGOS: And at that point he apologized to you?

RAMOS: Correct.

GERAGOS: And told you that he thought you were media?

RAMOS: Correct.

GERAGOS: Okay. Did you locate in the car the notebook that I was showing you the pages from?

RAMOS: No, I did not.

GERAGOS: Did you see the interior of the car at all?

RAMOS: Once it had been searched completely.

GERAGOS: Did you see the notebook at any point, once it had been searched?

RAMOS: No, I did not.

GERAGOS: Nobody showed that to you?

RAMOS: No.

GERAGOS: Is today the first day you've seen these two things that I showed you, the two notes?

RAMOS: Yes.

GERAGOS: With the license plate numbers on it?

RAMOS: Yes.

GERAGOS: Nobody's ever shown that to you before?

RAMOS: No.

GERAGOS: And is the first time that you told anybody from the DA's office about Mr. Peterson apologizing, was that last week when you were called here as a witness?

RAMOS: Yes, correct. That was this week.

GERAGOS: That was this week?

RAMOS: Uh-huh.

GERAGOS: So when you were called as a witness this week, that's the first time that anybody, because it wasn't in your report, correct?

RAMOS: No, it wasn't.

GERAGOS: And when you were asked questions by the district attorney, you told him Well, look, he did tell me that he thought I was media and he apologized, correct?

RAMOS: I did tell him.

GERAGOS: Thank you. I have no further questions.

JUDGE: May Ms. Ramos be excused?

DISTASO: Yes, your Honor.

GERAGOS: Yes.

JUDGE: Thank you.