A Willimantic man convicted of delivering a series of beatings that killed a 3-year-old girl in 2013 was sentenced today to 30 years in prison – a much more lenient sentence than prosecutors requested.
During the sentencing of Carroll Bumgarner-Ramos inside Danielson Superior Court, Judge Patricia Swords excoriated the 32-year-old man, stating the likelihood of his rehabilitation was “minimal.”
“You are vicious, cruel and cold-blooded,” she said. “The photos of this crime are almost beyond belief, that a human being could treat a small child like that.”
Bumgarner-Ramos, who has previous convictions for assault and drug-related crimes, was found guilty in May by Swords of first-degree manslaughter, first-degree assault, risk of injury to a minor and aggravated sexual assault of a minor in the death of Nevaeh Lam on June 27, 2013.
In laying out the sentence, Swords gave Bumgarner-Ramos 25 years for sexual assault and five for manslaughter, with the sentence on those charges to run consecutively. Bumgarner-Ramos was also sentenced to 10 years each on the risk of injury and assault charges, which will run concurrent to the other charges. Twenty-five years of the total sentence must be served under the mandatory minimal guidelines. Bumgarner-Ramos was also ordered to serve 15 years of special parole.
Patricia Froehlich, who helped prosecute Bumgarner-Ramos before retiring earlier this year, was back in court on Wednesday after being sworn in as a special assistant state’s attorney. Froehlich argued for a 75-year sentence for Bumgarner-Ramos, citing his long criminal history and the brutal nature of the crime.
“This is a crime that cries out for the maximum sentence,” she said. “According to the (pre-sentence investigation), this is a selfish, self-centered, violent young man.”
Froehlich said Nevaeh was “not a privileged child,” but one that deserved so much more than a violent death at the hands of a person entrusted with her life.
“(Nevaeh) was in intense pain and he kept spanking away,” Froehlich said. “I can’t think of a more horrific image.”
Bumgarner-Ramos, who rejected an offer by the state to settle the case short of a trial, told police that Nevaeh had been in his care the afternoon of her death. He also said that Nevaeh hit her head on a post while he was playfully swinging her by her arms, and then spanking and biting her to get her to stop crying, Judge Patricia Swords said when rendering her verdict. (Because THAT'LL make her stop crying.....)
Though Bumgarner-Ramos declined to speak during the sentencing, his mother, Norma Ramos, said after that her son was “unjustly convicted” and she will work to appeal the verdict. Bumgarner-Ramos’ lawyer, John O’Brien, said his client was remorseful about the child’s death, but maintains he did not cause her injuries.
WILLIMANTIC, CT – Carroll Bumgarner-Ramos has been arrested after his girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter died from “indescribable atrocities” which included a skull fracture, bite marks, burns, trauma to her genitals and swollen eyes.
