A Superior Court judge has sentenced a former Weehawken police officer to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the death of a Union City teenager three years ago.
Even though a jury in May found former Weehawken cop Alejandro Jaramillo not guilty of murdering 17-year-old Jose Luis Ives, Jr. on a Weehawken/Union City street corner on July 17, 2003, the 29-year-old Jaramillo was found guilty of aggravated assault and official misconduct.
On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan sentenced Jaramillo to eight years for the assault charges and seven years for official misconduct, for allegedly trying to cover up the incident.
On that fateful July night, the teenaged Ives and Jaramillo got into an altercation after the off-duty Jaramillo spotted Ives’ two younger brothers setting off car alarms in Weehawken. The jury determined that Jaramillo punched Ives in the face, causing him to fall to the ground, hitting his head on the pavement and fracturing his skull.
The teenager, set to be a junior at Union Hill High School that fall, died eight days later of the injuries he suffered as a result of the altercation.
Jaramillo, who was spotted crying during the sentencing, with his lower lip quivering, did not say anything during the proceeding.
His attorney, Robert Galantucci, read a statement that Jaramillo apparently wrote in his jail cell a few hours before his appearance in court to receive his fate.
Jamamillo writes a letter
“Tomorrow morning, I am scheduled to be sentenced by you for what happened on the worst day of my life,” Jaramillo’s statement read. “A young man, Jose Ives, lost his life. I am in jail and separated from my family and fiancée. I am no longer a police officer, something I wanted all my life. But worse than that, Jose Ives is dead. I cannot do anything to bring him back. The reason I became a police officer was to help people and not to hurt anyone.”
Jaramillo’s letter continued, “Every day since, I have felt pain for the loss that Jose Ives’ family and friends must feel. I pray for their consolation. Although my lawyer said I would have a chance to speak at sentencing, I am afraid I will not be able to express how I feel. That is why I am writing this letter. I am sorry for what has happened and will live with what happened every day of my life.”
Jaramillo was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs. He stopped to say something to a friend who was seated in the back of the courtroom and proceeded out in the custody of Hudson County Sheriff’s officers.
Galantucci said that he plans to appeal the sentencing. He asked Judge Callahan to have the sentences run concurrently, but Callahan refuted that claim, saying the aggravated assault and subsequent cover up attempts were “distinct and separate crimes.”
“He’s never been in trouble before, and it was only one punch,” Galantucci said in published and televised reports. “We feel like he got sentenced for murder. There is no question in my mind, that if the man was not a cop, punches someone one time, no drugs, no alcohol, never been in trouble, he would have gotten five years, that’s it. No question.”
While Jaramillo’s attorney believed the sentence to be too severe, the Ives family disagreed.
“It’s not enough time, 15 years,” said Jose Ives, Sr., the father of the victim. “My son will never return. My son was sentenced to life. From that day on, we have had only anguish and pain. There has never been a phone call for an apology.”
He added, “This man has never shown any pain for what he did. This is a pain I will carry the rest of my life.”
“The only mistake my son made was to in the way of an evil person,” said Luisa Ives, the mother of the late teenager. “He didn’t do anything. That person has ended my life, my joy, everything. Here you have a person who deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail.”
Jaramillo’s father, Jorge, addressed the court and the family, expressing their sorrow for their loss.
Jaramillo must serve at least 85 percent of the eight-year sentence before beginning the seven-year term. Since he has been incarcerated since the incident, those three years will be credited toward his overall prison stay.
With good behavior, Jaramillo may receive parole in as few as eight years.
Repeated phone calls to Galantucci and to Ives family attorney Anthony Mack were not returned by press time.