An attorney for a sailor accused of second-degree murder in the wrong way crash death of a Point Loma woman told a jury this week to reject those charges.

Attorney Jay Monico, who represents Eric Deangelo Ramos Cortez, 26, told jurors on Feb. 26 that there was “no implied malice” while Ramos was driving his Subaru Outback SUV which struck the vehicle of Sarah Lombardi, 54.

“This is a tragic accident,” said Monico in his opening statement. “Everyone knows drinking and driving is dangerous.”

Monico is hoping jurors will convict Ramos of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and acquit him of second-degree murder. Some months ago, Ramos won the right to withdraw his guilty plea to vehicular manslaughter with an 11-year maximum sentence.

Deputy District Attorney Hailey Williams told jurors Ramos was driving at almost triple the level of legal intoxication and slammed head-on into Lombardi’s Toyota Camry at 69 mph on Interstate 8 at 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2021.

Ramos had told someone earlier he was “OK to drive,” but Williams said “the defendant was not OK.” She said he passed multiple cars going the wrong way and never braked or swerved to avoid the collision.

The second-degree murder charge alleges that Ramos had “a wanton disregard for life,” according to a jury instruction.

“Less than one mile from her home, Sarah Lombardi was murdered,” said Williams to the jury and San Diego Superior Court Judge Evan Kirvin.

Lombardi was driving home from work at the Kansas City Barbecue restaurant that was located downtown where she had worked for 26 years. The trial’s first witness was her husband, Daniel Lombardi.

Ramos worked as an electrician during his two years in the Navy but has been in jail since his arrest. He has pleaded not guilty.

Williams told jurors he attended multiple briefings and signed multiple documents about the use of alcohol while in the Navy. She said Ramos had Uber and Lyft apps on his phone.

His attorney told jurors that Ramos did attend those briefings about alcohol and drug use, but those safety briefings “were general to the whole United States…and they did include malice instructions.”

Jurors heard 911 telephone calls from other motorists who called letting the CHP know there was a wrong-way driver on Interstate 8. The trial is estimated to conclude in the first week of March.

In 2023, Ramos pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with a sentencing lid of 11 years and four months, but there was something crossed out on his plea form about reduced conduct/work credits. That should not have been crossed out, and the judge allowed him to withdraw his guilty plea and go on trial, which is a risk he was willing to take.