Condemned man avoids execution

After a Supreme Court ruling, Nathan Joe Ramirez's sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole.

NEW PORT RICHEY - Twice, juries found that Nathan Joe Ramirez committed one of the most heinous crimes in Pasco County history. Twice, they decided he should die for it.

But in a hearing Friday morning, Circuit Judge Daniel Diskey resentenced the 28-year-old to life in prison without parole.

The sentence came in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in March that says to execute those who commit crimes as juveniles is unconstitutional.

"It's ironic to me, Mr. Ramirez, that the judicial system now shows you the mercy that you could not show Mrs. (Mildred) Boroski," Diskey said, with evident disgust.

In 1995, at 17, Ramirez and a friend broke into Boroski's home to steal the widow's birthday presents. They used a crowbar to sodomize her and beat the life out of her miniature poodle, Chippy. Then they drove the 71-year-old to a grassy field where they shot her twice in the head with her late husband's .38-caliber revolver.

Their take: two guns, a pair of handcuffs, a ring, a cordless phone and about $30, which the teenagers used to play video games the next day.

The other teen, Johnathan Grimshaw, was 18 at the time. He was sentenced to death in 1996, but a judge determined the jury received incorrect sentencing instructions. The judge gave the case to another jury, which recommended life without parole.

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