Guatemalan teen’s killing was a hate crime, prosecutors say

On the dark streets after midnight, six young men walked with a hateful purpose — to stalk and rob Guatemalans, according to prosecutors.

They say that’s how Onésimo Marcelino López-Ramos wound up with his head cracked open, killed in a beating outside his Palm Beach County home, just two months after turning 18.

Jurors on Tuesday also got a close up look at the ax that prosecutors say was wielded by David Harris, whose trial on first-degree murder and aggravated battery began with both sides agreeing that López-Ramos was the victim of a hate crime.

But Harris’ lawyer blamed the tragedy on one of the other men in the group that night, and said the jury will have to sort out a brawl that led to the victim’s death just after 1:30 a.m. April 18, 2015.

“Austin Taggart is the ‘Guat hunter,’ ” defense attorney Franklin Prince told the jury in his opening statement, accusing Taggart of deciding on his own to seek out Guatemalans to steal from in a Jupiter neighborhood.

Taggart, 22, has pleaded not guilty to the same charges and will be tried separately.

Assistant State Attorneys Jill Richstone and Marci Rex agree Taggart participated in the violence, but contend it was Harris, 22, who took López-Ramos’ life in a confrontation fueled by hate and prejudice for the Guatemalan community.

“They were going ‘Guat hunting,’ Guatemalan hunting, which means to rob, steal from unsuspecting, weak Guatemalans,” Richstone said, noting how the violence began when Taggart, armed with rebar or a metal rod, tried to knock a Hispanic man off of a bicycle and rob him.

About an eighth of Jupiter’s population is Hispanic, including almost 1,400 Guatemalans, records show. And the prosecutor said Harris’ group knew where to go “prowling.”

The men strolled up to the López-Ramos family home in the 300 block of Fourth Street. Onésimo López-Ramos, hanging out with his brother Elmer and others, welcomed Harris and his group onto the property for some alcoholic drinks, the prosecutor said.

But tensions quickly flared when Elmer touched Harris, and Harris hit him back.

Elmer, who had previously collected an ax from a shed, was then chased by Harris.

Then, Onésimo began chasing Harris, and Taggart hit Onésimo in the back with the rebar, Richstone explained.

At that point, Harris and his group began walking away, with López-Ramos’ group yelling out. Harris turned back “to finish what he started,” picked up the discarded ax, and swung it like a baseball bat on López-Ramos’ head, Richstone said.

“Boom — right to the back of the head and he falls to the dirt and dies,” Richstone said, promising the jury will hear Harris’ statements to detectives about the confrontation.

“He will be the best witness you have in this case,” she said.

But Harris’ attorney said Harris hit López-Ramos only once on the head with an ax handle during the “tremendous” street fight, in response to López-Ramos swinging a pipe at him. Prince said it was Taggart who then inflicted fatal blows with a rock, Prince said.

“David did not kill Onésimo,” he said. “It was Austin Taggart.”

Prince, Harris’ attorney, said his client’s statements to detectives resulted from the cops making Harris believe he was the killer.

“You’ll see ... this bloody rock, which was the murder weapon, that Austin Taggart committed the crime, by himself,” Prince said. He said virtually nothing about the third man charged in the case, his client’s younger brother, Jesse Harris, 21.

Later, prosecutors showed the jury the rock and the rebar from the crime scene.