A Cherokee County man was sentenced to jail time earlier this month after he was convicted of beating his girlfriend in public while out on bond after previous accusations of violence against the same woman.
Diego Ramos-Garcia, 23, of Canton, received a 10-year sentence with three years to be served in prison, Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit District Attorney Shannon Wallace said in a news release. After he is released from prison, Ramos-Garcia will be ordered to have no contact with the victim for the remainder of his sentence. He will also be ordered to avoid alcohol and drugs, and he will not be allowed to possess a gun.
Ramos-Garcia was convicted July 1 of false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and battery enhanced under Georgia’s Family Violence Act, Wallace said. According to the DA, the charges were the result of an incident that took place in February.
The case began with a 911 hangup call from a woman who told the dispatcher she was being followed, Wallace said. The call disconnected when the woman said the person was hitting her.
Canton police responded to the address the woman provided during the 911 call but officers did not find the woman there, Wallace said. Police next traced the call to a parking lot in Canton where a witness said he saw Ramos-Garcia in a fight with a woman. The witness told police he asked Ramos-Garcia to stop hitting the woman, and Ramos-Garcia instead dragged the woman to a car by her hair.
As police investigated Ramos-Garcia, they learned he was out on bond after being arrested on domestic violence charges involving the same woman the previous year, Wallace said. The conditions of Ramos-Garcia’s bond did not allow him to have any contact with the woman.
“This case is a classic example of escalating family violence,” Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Rachel Ashe said. “The defendant had been released on bond after a previous incident with the same woman. Even though he was forbidden from being in contact with the victim, he not only disobeyed the order, but also did so in a violent and public way.”
According to Ashe, the victim testified in court that nothing happened between her and Ramos-Garcia. Her testimony was contradicted by another independent witness, Ashe said.
“The jury did a thorough job sifting through evidence and understanding that victims of domestic violence sometimes minimize or even deny that domestic violence has actually occurred,” Wallace said. “In cases like this, law enforcement, courts, and even community members must step in before violence escalates further. This sentence effectively stops the cycle of violence while providing just punishment for the defendant.”
Anyone affected by domestic violence in Cherokee County may contact the Cherokee Family Violence Center for help by calling the crisis hotline at 770-479-1703.
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