California governor’s death row plan covers two Filipino men convicted in three killings

One killed a Sacramento police officer as she helped a woman leave her home. The other was convicted of murdering two men in a Riverside County shooting that also left a woman with a severed spinal cord.

Adel Sambrano Ramos and Sonny Enraca are among 548 people covered by California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to commute every death sentence in the state to life without parole. The California Supreme Court must approve commutations for prisoners with multiple felony convictions.

Rifle fire kept officers from reaching wounded colleague

Sacramento police Officer Tara O’Sullivan, 26, was helping a woman gather her belongings during a domestic disturbance call in North Sacramento on June 19, 2019, when Ramos opened fire with a rifle.

Police said the gunfire kept officers from reaching O’Sullivan for about 45 minutes. They used an armored vehicle to get to her and rushed her to UC Davis Medical Center, where she died. Ramos surrendered after an eight-hour standoff.

Ramos, who identified San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, as his hometown, pleaded guilty to murder in August 2024. The first jury deadlocked over his punishment. A second jury returned a death verdict in March 2025, and a Sacramento County judge sentenced him to death on June 27, 2025.

Two men killed, one woman survives

A November 1994 fight erupted into gunfire, killing Ignacio Hernandez and Dedrick Gobert. Jenny Hyon survived, but a bullet severed her spinal cord.

Enraca, who was born in the Philippines, was convicted of both murders and sentenced to death in Riverside County on July 23, 1999. The California Supreme Court upheld his convictions and death sentence in 2012.