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Defense: Key witness recants statement against man charged in Roy toddler’s homicide

By Mark Shenefelt - | Mar 18, 2022

MARK SHENEFELT, Standard-Examiner

The 2nd District Court building in Ogden is pictured Friday, Sept. 18, 2020.

OGDEN — A defense attorney claims two ex-girlfriends of murder suspect Jordan Koji Ramirez-Sasaki lied about his alleged confession because the women were in a scheme to collect a $10,000 reward for his arrest and conviction.

Ramirez-Sasaki, 27, is charged with aggravated murder in the Oct. 10, 2016, death of his girlfriend’s 22-month-old daughter, Genesis McCall, in Roy. Police arrested Sasaki-Ramirez on Jan. 12 in Salt Lake County.

In charging documents, police and prosecutors said they had sworn statements from the suspect’s ex-wife and two subsequent girlfriends that he had confessed to the killing.

But in a motion filed Thursday in 2nd District Court, Ramirez-Sasaki’s attorney, John Quinn, of Draper, submitted a screenshot of an undated Snapchat message he said was from one of the ex-girlfriends apologizing to Ramirez-Sasaki.

“I’m sorry Jordan I lied to the detectives about you killing genesis macall (sic),” the message reads in part. The message said someone “has this scam to get the $10,000.”

The message continued, “I should have never lied about something like that to ruin you reputation and life please forgive me.”

Quinn’s motion was made against the backdrop of his efforts to persuade Judge Noel Hyde to grant bail to Ramirez-Sasaki, who has been held without bail at the Weber County Jail since his arrest.

Quinn sought a delay in an upcoming bail hearing because he has been trying without success to get the woman’s address from the Weber County Attorney’s Office. He said the office refused to provide the address “of a key witness that the defendant believes is necessary for a fair hearing on the issue of bail.”

The attorney said charges were slow to be filed against Ramirez-Sasaki, a six-year period, “because very little evidence exists.” Without the claim by the ex-girlfriend that Ramirez-Sasaki confessed to her that he killed the child, “charges against the defendant would not be possible,” Quinn said.

Given the woman’s apparent contradicting statements, her presence at the bail hearing would be vital, Quinn said.

He said the county attorney’s office has rebuffed requests for the woman’s address, saying its policy is not to divulge addresses. Quinn asserted that judicial rules of discovery require prosecutors to give such information to defense attorneys, and he asked Hyde to address the issue.

As of Friday morning, the county attorney’s office had not responded to the motion in court. Efforts to contact Letitia Toombs, a prosecutor on the case, were not immediately successful.

In documents unsealed in 2nd District Court after Ramirez-Sasaki was arrested, police said they had been told by Ramirez-Sasaki’s ex-wife and two subsequent girlfriends that he had confessed to killing the child. The ex-wife said Ramirez-Sasaki told her he changed out of bloody shorts before police first interviewed him about the death.

A probable cause statement also detailed doctors’ descriptions of the child’s injuries. Doctors at Primary Children’s Medical Center told law enforcement that Genesis was brain dead, having suffered significant inflicted injuries, including swelling and bleeding in the brain, detached retinas, head and facial bruises and strangulation marks on her neck.

After life support was withdrawn and the child died, a state medical examiner’s autopsy report said Genesis died of homicide due to multiple blunt force injuries to her head, neck and torso.

Investigators said Ramirez-Sasaki told them Genesis had fallen the day before but that he did not notice any injuries. The child’s mother was at work when authorities were called.

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