A 39-year-old Waikoloa man pleaded not guilty Thursday to three counts of second-degree sexual assault.
Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura ordered Pascual Ramirez to appear for trial at 9 a.m. March 19, 2018. Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Lee told the judge that Deputy Prosecutor Kimberly Angay is assigned the case and she estimated the trial would take two weeks.
Ramirez was indicted Oct. 25 by a Hilo grand jury. The indictment claims he “knowingly subjected” the alleged victim, an adult woman, “to an act of sexual penetration by compulsion” on Nov. 12, 2016, and on two occasions between June 25 and July 3, 2016.
Police said the alleged offenses occurred in Hilo and the alleged victim is an acquaintance.
Ramirez is free on $75,000 bail. Lee asked the judge to impose conditions of release that Ramirez not contact, threaten or harm the complainant and the complainant’s child. He also requested Ramirez be subject to random testing for drugs and alcohol.
Stanton Oshiro, Ramirez’s attorney, objected to the drug and alcohol testing, saying, “I don’t see any basis for the imposition of those conditions, especially on a pretrial basis.”
Nakamura ordered Ramirez to stay at least 100 yards away from the complainant and her child but didn’t order the alcohol or drug conditions.
Second-degree sexual assault is a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but the indictment alleges that, if convicted, Ramirez is “subject to an extended term of imprisonment … for the protection of the public and that the … defendant may be sentenced for two or more felonies.” If convicted under those circumstances, he could face a possible 20-year prison term.
Court records indicate Ramirez’s only prior criminal conviction in Hawaii is for DUI in 2012.
The Tribune-Herald does not identify alleged sexual assault victims unless they choose to go public.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
