Ramey pleads not guilty in death of former girlfriend

4/21/2017
BY JENNIFER FEEHANĀ 
BLADE STAFF WRITER
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    James Ramey, center, enters the Fulton County Common Pleas Courtroom for his arraignment on 22 counts related to the shooting death of his former girlfriend.

    THE BLADE/KATIE RAUSCH
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  • WAUSEON — James C. Ramey sat stoically Thursday as a Fulton County judge read the charges and possible penalties he faces if he is convicted of killing his former girlfriend, Amanda Mangas.

    It took little more than 10 minutes.

    Ramey, 27, of the 300 block of Fassett Street is charged with 22 felony counts, including two counts of aggravated murder that carry death-penalty specifications in the March 14 shooting death of Ms. Mangas, 23, at her home in Delta.

    He entered not guilty pleas before Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Robinson, who scheduled a pretrial hearing in his case for June 21 and set out a March 12, 2018 trial date.

    It is the second capital murder case now pending before the court.

    The other is James D. Worley, 58, of rural Delta, who is to go to trial Jan. 16 on aggravated murder charges with capital specifications in the July kidnapping and asphyxiation death of Sierah Joughin, 20, of Metamora.

    Judge Robinson appointed Toledo attorneys Dave Klucas and Jane Roman to represent Ramey, who is being held in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio on a $1 million bond.

    Prosecutors say Ramey disregarded the protection order Ms. Mangas had obtained against him after he threatened to kill her in August. He is accused of fatally shooting her before taking their 10-month-old son, Winston, and abducting her stepmother, Deborah Mangas, and driving them to north-central Indiana, where authorities arrested Ramey the same day.

    In addition to two counts of aggravated murder, Ramey is charged with two counts each of murder and aggravated burglary, four counts of abduction, six counts of kidnapping, and one count each of attempted murder, felonious assault, receiving stolen property, aggravated robbery, violation of a protection order, and possession of criminal tools.

    Mr. Klucas said afterward that several of the indicted charges overlap but cite different sections of the law as their basis. He added he and Ms. Roman met with Ramey for the first time before Thursday's arraignment, but he declined to comment on his state of mind.

    “He understood what was going on today. The judge asked him questions, and he gave the appropriate answers,” Mr. Klucas said.

    Fulton County Prosecutor Scott Haselman left immediately after the hearing and has declined to comment on the case.

    Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.