Corvallis Construction Worker Sentenced to 364 Days in Prison for Stabbing Supervisor
– Heber Escobar-Gonzalez pleads guilty in regards to PTSD, and will continue to seek asylum in the U.S.
By: Hannah Lull
Feb. 11, 2022
Note: this is unpublished work. This article was not published because it was a class assignment.
On Jan. 20, Heber Escobar-Gonzalez agreed to a plea deal where he plead guilty to second-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, and possession of a dangerous weapon after an incident on Oct. 4, 2021, where he stabbed Juan Raul Ramirez-Miguel, Corvallis resident and construction site supervisor, at 2800 NW. Deer Run Place. He was sentenced by Judge William Locke to 364 days in prison with three years probation and will have to engage in frequent mental health and drug evaluations.
Oct. 4 seemingly started off like any other working day, with the construction crew determined to complete their daily tasks in this relatively nice and quiet neighborhood. Until suddenly, Escobar-Gonzalez grabbed a knife and stabbed his supervisor, shocking everyone with his uncharacteristic behavior.
Escobar-Gonzalez is a 25-year-old man from Mexico who was recently hired to construct new homes in the outskirts of Corvallis. His supervisor, Juan Raul Ramirez-Miguel was showing Escobar-Gonzalez some helpful tips on lot number 44 when the incident occurred.
“Juan had met Heber a few days ago while at the construction site,” Corvallis police officer, Lashaun Emile wrote in the incident report. “During the few days leading up to this incident, Juan did not have any problems or prior incidents with Heber.”
Ramirez-Miguel felt Escobar-Gonzalez strike him with his hand at first, followed by a stab under his right armpit. He tried running from him, but Escobar-Gonzalez still managed to pick up a 6 ft aluminum pole and hit his target twice, with enough force to bend the weapon.
During the attack, Escobar-Gonzalez made claims that Ramierez killed his father and brother and he was “going to take care of it,” according to witnesses on the scene. He also said he was going to kill anyone who helped Ramierez-Miguel.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Christian Strahl, Escobar-Gonzalez’s defense attorney said. “His father and brother are alive. So no one knows why he was saying that, he doesn’t know why he was saying that.”
Before coming to the United States, Escobar-Gonzalez suffered a brain injury from a gunshot wound to the head in Mexico. Strahl believes this was the reason why his client was making such bizarre statements. After the incident in Mexico, he feared for his life and immigrated here to seek asylum.
Strahl is not aware of any past violent acts performed on Escobar-Gonzalez’s behalf before or after the gunshot wound, so he was charged as a first-time offender. His odd accusations against Ramierez were thought to be a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, even though there was no evidence to prove it.
“I don’t know if there is a mental health problem,” Jay Hughes, the deputy district attorney, and prosecution on the case said. “The only evidence I know is that witnesses stated that Escobar said ‘you killed my father.’ I received very limited information from the defense about mental health or head injury.”
No psychological report was submitted to evidence in the case due to time restrictions, COVID-19 protocol difficulties, and the language barrier between Escobar-Gonzalez and the criminal psychologists that would normally carry out the evaluations. However, Hughes took the possibility of the presence of PTSD and other mental illness problems into serious account when working on the case.
“I’m not confirming or denying he has PTSD,” Strahl stated. “I’m not a psychologist but the basis for that was a gunshot wound that he received in Mexico within the last year so this would presumably be the first time something like this would’ve happened because it is a recent development.”
According to the American Psychiatric Association, PTSD is not uncommon. It is a common trope that it only affects combat veterans because of terms like ‘shell shock’ and ‘combat fatigue’ that used to denote the condition. In reality, PTSD affects over 3 percent of the U.S. population at any given time and approximately one in 11 people will experience it in their lifetime.
“It is important to remember that PTSD is not a sign of weakness, it can happen to anyone,” Dr. Keith Johnson, practicing adult psychiatrist and assistant professor at OHSU, said over the phone. “If [Escobar-Gonzalez] suffered head trauma and feared for his and his family’s lives, I could see where it would be possible that what he did was a result of PTSD.”
Even though the sentence was shortened, Strahl still wishes they could’ve just stuck to a probation sentence rather than prison time. The plea sentence deal was discussed in the settlement conference, with each side sticking with certain points.
“[The state] felt as if he was a danger to the community and the victim had suffered a serious injury so they felt that prison was appropriate,” Strahl said. “That was one of the state’s speaking points that they weren’t going to agree to something that was not at least a certain amount of prison.”
Strahl has strong opinions on first-time offenders going to prison and tries to fight for the least amount of prison time possible. More likely than not, people will become more criminal coming out of prison than when they went in.
“When you concentrate criminality in one place like that and a person spends all their time with criminals, they have no positive elements,” Strahl said. “They may join a gang for protection. They may learn other criminal enterprises from other people about how to make and sell drugs or how to do burglaries in a profitable way. Prison can be a place where people become criminals when they aren’t already.”
Hughes’s approach to the case was to take all the evidence into account. With this being a case that dealt with a violent crime, she also had to take her responsibility to the community and her role in keeping it safe into account. This is why she argued for jail time, no matter the circumstances that surrounded or led to the incident.
“My focus was the facts of the case and the crimes, and that would, of course, include any potential danger to the community and an appropriate sentence and what can keep him from doing those things in future,” Hughes said.
Strahl wouldn’t change much about his approach to the case, besides applying for funds through Oregon State’s Public Defense System to have an interpreter on hand at all times. Escobar-Gonzalez’s primary language is Spanish so this made the conversation between the two extremely difficult. They had some help from Strahl’s office staff but she tested positive for Covid-19 halfway through planning the trial and Strahl wishes he had someone more permanent to help him in this regard.
“I would’ve had a little better communication with him,” Strahl says. “So that’s one thing I would change. I don’t think there were any errors, it was just something looking back that could’ve made it easier.”
Hughes was mostly satisfied with the outcome of the case as well. She feels that the sentencing was fair and hopes for the best with Escobar-Gonzalez.
“I treated the case in a very systematic and committed manner. I worked closely with law enforcement and the victim,” Hughes said. “I was very careful to assess the case with great thoughtfulness.”
Escobar-Gonzalez says he feels bad about his actions and shows remorse for what happened. Since the incident, he understood there was a conflict and knew he was to blame. He kept quiet when officers arrived on the scene. He gave little to no explanation but stated, “there was a conflict” and “what happened happened.”
During court proceedings, he kept quiet and stared at the floor for the majority of the trial. His interpreter and the judge were constantly making sure that he understood what was happening and was in agreement with it, to which he solemnly replied ‘sí.’ When the judge asked if he wanted to make a statement at the end of the proceedings, Escobar-Gonzalez stood up and addressed him directly.
“I feel ashamed for the actions I took,” Escobar-Gonzalez said. “It surprises me to have done something like this, but I did, and here I am. I plead guilty.”