BELL COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — Following the controversial verdict in her son's murder trial, Amanda Rios is advocating for reform in the justice system, highlighting critical issues she believes contributed to an unjust outcome.
- Amanda Rios, the mother of Joe Ramirez, is grappling with the jury’s verdict of criminally negligent homicide in her son’s murder case and questions whether race played a role in the outcome.
- She criticizes the justice system for withholding key evidence, like threats from the defendant, that could have influenced the trial’s result, expressing frustration over its exclusion due to legal technicalities.
- Now committed to advocacy, Rios hopes to reform the judicial system and push for stronger school safety laws to prevent similar tragedies in the future
- Rios is asking for the public's help in finding ways to seek this change to prevent school violence cases from happening in the future.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
One week after a trial that left a mother in shambles, Amanda Rios is still left with so many questions unanswered after a verdict she feels leaves her son without justice.
“I know you said you didn’t want to play the race card, but do you think race has anything to do with this?” asked 25 News Reporter Dominique Leh.
“It’s hard not to think that, when nothing makes sense,” said Joe Ramirez’s mother Amanda Rios.
One week after a verdict in her sons murder trial, Amanda Rios is still trying to make sense of the jury’s decision of criminally negligent homicide for her sons killer.
“This really just opened up my eyes of how unfair the justice system is,” said Rios.
Now Amanda Rios is searching for a way to change the judicial court system.
“This isn’t about changing the verdict and trying to get I would love if that were possible. I understand it’s not. But I’m just concerned for our world, and I want to do anything that I can do to use Joe’s story to fix where it’s all broken,” said Rios.
Parts of the trial she wished could have gone differently involved unseen evidence that she says will be used during sentencing, but Rios says by then it’s too late.
“Threats from the defendant to the deceased are a big deal, and they’re withheld from court when the defendant doesn’t take the stand, you can’t put it in, and it doesn’t make sense to me,” said Amanda Rios.
“Do you think if certain evidence would have been brought up, that the outcome of this trial would have been different?” asked Leh.
“Most definitely,” said Rios.
One goal she hopes to accomplish is creating stricter safety laws for children in school today.
“I just want to help the next person, to save the next kid in school from this happening again, we’ve got to do something, we can’t just let this be the way it is, this is not okay,” said Rios.
Amanda Rios is looking to take her efforts beyond the courtroom by hiring attorneys to help make a difference. If you would like to assist in those efforts you can donate to this GoFundMe.
