Judge lifts DUI conviction for Santa Rosa man represented by unlicensed attorney

A 2014 DUI conviction of a Santa Rosa man who had been represented by an unlicensed attorney was vacated Tuesday after a judge concluded an “injustice” had taken place a decade ago.

Norberto Ramirez Perez spent three years of a five-year sentence in prison following his conviction and then was deported to Mexico. His attorney, Miranda Devlin, was later convicted of fraud in federal court.

Ramirez’s conviction was lifted by Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Karlene Navarro, who indicated there was no evidence of subsequent violations and “his debt to society has been paid.”

“Petitioner (Ramirez Perez) was not represented by a licensed attorney at his jury trial, which eliminated the court’s jurisdiction during the trial and stands as a bar to a valid conviction and sentence,” she wrote in a decision discussed Tuesday.

The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office indicated the case would be dismissed if the conviction was vacated, Navarro wrote.

She filed her decision late last week and the matter was resolved Tuesday morning during a brief hearing before Judge Vernon Nakahara.

“I’m certainly happy it’s finally done and justice has been done to rectify what was a grievous error,” said Vishad Dewan, the public defender handling Ramirez’s case. “It’s still astounding to me something like this could happen.”

Ramirez was arrested following a crash at 3:30 a.m. April 15, 2013, on Highway 12 at Merced Avenue in Santa Rosa, according to the California Highway Patrol. The crash injured him and his passenger, who was hospitalized for several weeks.

Ramirez was sentenced to five years in prison and served three years before being deported in 2017.

Devlin, who identified herself as a real lawyer named Stephanie Martin, was present for 22 court appearances in Ramirez’s case, which took place between 2013 and September 2014.

She was arrested after federal charges of mail fraud and making false statements to a financial institution were filed against her in February 2021, federal officials said. She was convicted in July 2021 on fraud charges involving $368,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans for a fake business.

A sentencing memorandum in Devlin’s federal case showed she passed the California Bar Exam in July 2013 but failed the moral character exam.

Devlin’s history of impersonating lawyers began to unravel in 2019 after a Marin County judge became suspicious of her identity. Officials said she had handled several cases across the Bay Area but Ramirez was her only client in Sonoma County.

In November, the Sonoma County Public Defender’s Office filed a petition on behalf of Ramirez to overturn his conviction.

The District Attorney’s Office opposed the petition, mostly on the grounds that the defense filed an insufficient argument that lacked due diligence. It contended, for example, the defense’s investigation mostly focused on Devlin and there was no solid indication Ramirez understood he was being represented by an unlicensed attorney.

“Should the court grant the petition notwithstanding these hurdles, however, the people would move to dismiss the case in the interest of justice,” prosecutors wrote in their opposition earlier this year.

Navarro indicated Devlin went through great lengths to put on “an extensive charade” that duped court officials and it was unlikely Ramirez was any wiser.

“There is no evidence in this record that petitioner knew or should have known about the fraud any sooner than the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office,” she wrote. “Ms. Devlin fraudulently represented petitioner in court through every date of the proceedings, including a jury trial for over a year without anyone detecting that she was a fake lawyer.”

Devlin was sentenced in November 2021 to 18 months in prison.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi