Rape victim allegedly attacked again by same man says legal system failed her



SEATTLE - On Wednesday, Q13 News went back and interviewed a rape victim who says she is in disbelief over how her case was handled by prosecutors and a King County judge.

We first talked to her last week now her story has gone national.

“I’m a little bit in shock I think,” victim said.

The woman has been living in hiding for days, afraid that Francisco Carranza Ramirez, the man who was convicted of raping her, will show up again.

Deputies say days after being released from jail, Ramirez came back to attack her.

“When he was choking me, he said killing me was going to set him free,” the victim said.

Deputies say a man driving by witnessed the attack and called 911. The victim also had documented scratches and bruising from the attack.

“The fact that he did actually come back and assault me in front of my child on the street in the daylight is just like how does that happen?” she said.

Sshe says it’s not from a lack of trying on her end to keep him behind bars.

“I begged her,” the victim said.

The victim says she tried to convince judge Nicole Gaines Phelps that Ramirez was a danger.

She says she went to the last two hearings pleading for more to be done in the case.

But in the end, Phelps released Ramirez with no supervision granting the wish of the convicted rapist to  return to his native country of Mexico. Phelps did order Ramirez to provide proof once he got to Mexico.

“I think the most shocking thing is that he was literally able to just walk out of jail,” the victim said.

The victim, who is wheelchair dependent, says her frustrations started with the initial charges against Ramirez.

Detectives in her case recommended Rape in the second degree. The King County Prosecutor’s Office filed lesser charges of Rape in the third degree that carries a maximum sentence of a year.

“What evidence do you need?” the victim said.

The prosecution says there was not enough evidence to support Rape in the second degree.

In an email exchange, a spokesperson for the prosecution wrote that there was no physical force beyond the minimal restraint inherent in commission of the act. The email also explained that there was also no explicit threats of harm.

“That is a terrible explanation. How do you tell someone who can’t fight back that they didn’t use enough force against the person attacking them?” the victim said.

She says she stayed quiet at first because she was terrified of what Ramirez would do to her and her son, but when he came back to rape her a second time she fought back by calling 911.

“Did I say no and all of that, did they record? Was it heard on the 911 call? yes it was,” the victim said.

The victim says moving forward, she wants the legal system that failed her to find a way to do better.

Deputies say Ramirez is back in Mexico, but that is no reassurance to the victim. She says the only way she will feel safe is if he is behind bars.  She wants him extradited.

As of now, the courts have no plans to extradite Ramirez.