Photo for Headline Surfer® / Ricardo Rodriguez got 25 years behind bars for shooting his younger brother in the leg in a dispute over property. The heavy sentence was the result of Florida's 10-20-life statute.ORANGE CITY -- An Orange City man was sentenced Oct. 6 in a DeLand courtroom to a minimum mandatory 25 years in prison for shooting his brother.
Ricardo Antonio Ramirez, 60, left his hospital bed in Orlando and went home and shot his younger brother, James Ramirez, in the leg, who was at the apartment with his wife and sister of the two brothers. The defendant then drove back to his hospital room after hiding the gun outside the apartment building.
A Volusia County jury in August found the elder Ramirez guilty of aggravated battery with a firearm, a second degree felony. Prosecutor Laura Coin said the jury "found that the firearm discharge inflicted great bodily harm upon the victim."
Circuit Judge Margaret Hudson sentenced Ramirez under the 10-20-LIFE statute that requires a 25-year minimum mandatory sentence. The sentence takes into account the injury from the use of the gun.
The defendant shared an apartment with his mother, who was not home at the time of the altercation on Jan. 13.
Ramirez shot his bother in the right thigh with a .22-caliber pistol, when James Ramirez also went to the apartment to remove some of their ailing mother's belongings while she was in a rehabilitation center and preparing to move to another relative's home.
Ramirez shot his bother in the right thigh with a .22-caliber pistol, when James Ramirez also went to the apartment to remove some of their ailing mother's belongings while she was in a rehabilitation center and preparing to move to another relative's home.
Ricardo Ramirez told the authorities he feared that his brother, who had power of attorney for his mother, was taking his belongings.
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