The Nebraska inmate convicted of murder in the slaying of an inmate from Scottsbluff during the March 2017 riot at the Tecumseh State Prison has been formally sentenced to life in prison.
33-year old Eric Ramos was convicted in December of 1st-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life term.
Ramos was also given an additional 60-to-80 years for convictions for felony use of a deadly weapon and concealing evidence in the death of 31-year old Michael Galindo.
Galindo was serving a 12-to-21 year sentence for an armed robbery conviction in Scotts Bluff County in addition to convictions in Buffalo County for Attempted Possession of a Controlled Substance and Driving under Suspension.
He was found dead in his smoke-filled cell at the end of the riote after being beaten by a group of inmates and stabbed over 130 times by at least 4 inmates.
Prosecutors called it a “mob attack” mostly captured on surveillance video. Galindo was seen taking refuge in his cell, but inmates broke out the window on the cell door and started a smoky fire within the room.
Ramos has denied being one of the inmates in the video and said during his trial he would not have jeopardized his upcoming parole by being in the attack. He declined to speak at the sentencing on the advice of his attorney because of a coming appeal.
A second inmate, Damon Fitzgerald, was also found dead following the riot, but charges have not been brought in his death.
The riot was sparked when prison authorities began searching a high-security housing unit for illegal stashes of “hooch,” a crude alcohol brewed by inmates.
Ramos was originally tried for Gaslindo’s death in 2018, but it resulted in a mistrial and spawned a number of appeals that took years to resolve before the second trial could begin
The second trial in Saline County District Court included 16 days of testimony before the jury spent almost 8 hours in deliberations over 2 days in December before issuing the 3 guilty verdicts.