Suspicious Behavior Doesn't Mean Someone's a Killer, Murder Suspect's Lawyer Says

By PAUL ANDERSON
City News Service

The roommate of a military veteran whose body was found dumped in Modjeska Canyon may have acted suspiciously when she was reported missing, but that doesn't prove he murdered her, his attorney argued today.

Kwang Chol Joy's attorney, Adam Vining of the Orange County Public Defender's Office, told jurors in his closing argument that prosecutors have only proven that "Maribel Ramos died and someone buried her body."

"They've proven K.C. Joy's statements are not reliable, that he's strange," Vining said. "Maybe he's misleading, maybe he's a liar, but nothing he says let's you know what happened (to the victim)."

Vining argued that if the circumstantial evidence in the case indicates Joy murdered the 36-year-old victim in May of last year, then the same facts could be used to make an argument for voluntary manslaughter.

Vining acknowledged that when Joy was questioned by police, the 55-year-old defendant was not forthcoming about his roommate's whereabouts, even though it appeared he knew where she was buried.

"His behavior is consistent with being afraid" of being caught committing manslaughter, Vining said. "Is it consistent with murder? Yeah. But is it also consistent with manslaughter? Yeah."

On Tuesday, Senior Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons told jurors that the "big break" in the case came when investigators had Joy under surveillance and caught him researching how long it takes for a body to decompose and how close a search party would be to the burial site.

Joy, while using a public library computer, "did a virtual drive-by of where he dumped" Ramos' body, the prosecutor said.

"You've heard the old adage that the killer returns to the scene of the crime? He did," Simmons said.

Joy's online searches for "how long does it take a human body to decay" and a Google map location of where the body was dumped led investigators straight to the victim, Simmons said.

Joy was going to the library while he was under suspicion, apparently not realizing investigators were tracking every online move he made in real time, the prosecutor said.

After Joy searched for the information on decomposition of a human body and the location of where Ramos was buried, he tried to erase his browsing history, apparently not realizing it was simple for investigators to forensically retrieve the information later, Simmons said.

The prosecutor argued Joy's Internet activity showed "consciousness of guilt," allowing for a conviction of first-degree murder.

While Ramos' friends and family and police were frantically searching for the missing Iraq War veteran, who disappeared just days before she was about to graduate with a bachelor's degree from Cal State Fullerton, Joy did interviews with television news reporters, Simmons said.

"The defendant made a conscious decision to lie to police and the media, claiming he had no idea what happened to Maribel over and over again," Simmons said. "And all the time he knows he buried her after murdering her... What kind of person does that? A cold-blooded person."

Joy began looking for a map page after he had read an article online about a search for the victim in the area where her body was dumped, Simmons said. Within 45 minutes of that online search, police found Ramos' remains, Simmons said.

Now Joy wants to "benefit from his evil ways" by saying there's no way to prove the cause of death since animals ravaged the body, Simmons told jurors.

"We just have to prove an unlawful killing at the hands of another," not the manner of death, the prosecutor said.

Vining said the jury should consider voluntary manslaughter because the victim was killed "in the heat of passion" during an argument.

The defendant and victim, who at times had an intimate relationship, had gotten into an "intense argument" the night of May 2, and friends and family reported her missing the following day when they were unable to contact her, according to Vining. Her body was found about two weeks later.

Joy had not been able to pay his share of the rent again in the two- bedroom apartment in Orange they shared. Less than two weeks before she disappeared, she called 911 about a frightening conversation she had with Joy.

The 911 call could also be interpreted as a sign of Ramos' "paranoia," argued Vining, who said she had issues with alcohol and drug abuse.

But when police asked Joy if he killed his roommate in self-defense, he denied hurting her, Simmons said. And there was "zero evidence" that Joy felt in fear of his life, which would justify the killing, the prosecutor said.

"The circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. It's first-degree murder," Simmons said. "If he couldn't have Maribel, he was going to make sure no one did."