California father Ezequiel Ramirez pleaded guilty in the 2020 death of his 23-month-old son, Joziah.

VISALIA, Calif. — A California judge sentenced Ezequiel Carlos Ramirez to life in prison without parole plus 35 years after he pleaded guilty in the torture and murder of his 23-month-old son, prosecutors said.

The sentence, handed down May 20 in Department 6 of Tulare County Superior Court, closed the murder case against Ramirez but did not end the larger prosecution. Ramirez, now 28, admitted first-degree murder with the special circumstance of torture in the death of Joziah Ramirez, along with seven felony counts tied to pimping, pandering and soliciting for prostitution. Joziah’s mother, Jasmine Blase, remains set for sentencing on a child endangerment conviction.

Prosecutors said the case began June 5, 2020, when Ramirez, Blase and Joziah were staying at a motel in Visalia after relocating from a hotel in Fresno. Authorities said the move was tied to Ramirez’s prostitution operation in Tulare and Fresno counties. Blase was away from the room when Ramirez severely abused the toddler, prosecutors said. Instead of calling for help, Ramirez messaged Blase to return. When she came back, she found Joziah unresponsive, breathing irregularly and lying near blood on bedding and elsewhere in the room. Ramirez told her he had only kicked the child in the stomach and blocked her from calling an ambulance, prosecutors said. He later called a family friend and claimed Joziah had fallen down stairs.

Emergency responders and police were contacted at about 11 p.m., minutes after Ramirez left the motel on foot, prosecutors said. Before he left, authorities said, Ramirez deleted information from Blase’s phone. Later that night, he sent messages to Blase that included “I’m gone,” “I’ll never see u again” and “I’m so sorry.” Joziah was first taken to Kaweah Health Medical Center, then airlifted to Valley Children’s Hospital. Doctors pronounced him brain-dead, and he died June 9, 2020. Prosecutors said the number and type of injuries showed inflicted, non-accidental trauma. Joziah had skull fractures on both sides, brain swelling and bleeding, rib fractures on both sides, and bruises, burns and abrasions across his body. An autopsy found his cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

The investigation quickly moved beyond the motel room. Prosecutors said Ramirez called a friend in Fresno in the early morning hours after the attack and said he had been in a car accident and needed a ride. During the drive back to Fresno, Ramirez was emotional and repeated that he did not have to do it, authorities said. He stayed overnight with the friend, then left the next morning and left behind a duffel bag of clothing spotted with blood. Law enforcement searched for him for four days. During that time, prosecutors said, Ramirez continued trying to recruit women into his prostitution operation. Officers arrested him June 9, 2020, the same day Joziah died.

After his arrest, Ramirez first denied knowing what happened and denied being around his son, prosecutors said. Investigators later confronted him with evidence, and he admitted he had been present. Even then, authorities said, he claimed he did not hurt Joziah “that bad” and “didn’t cause that much damage.” Prosecutors said the medical evidence contradicted that account. They described injuries consistent with being struck, shaken, thrown, kicked and burned. The case also included earlier signs of abuse. Blase told investigators that Ramirez had verbally abused Joziah and lifted him off the ground by his hair. Prosecutors said Joziah was nearly potty-trained and was described by those who knew him as smart and active.

Ramirez’s criminal history was central to the prosecution’s account of why he had contact with Joziah and Blase at all. Prosecutors said Ramirez had impregnated Blase when she was 15. At the time of Joziah’s death, Ramirez was on parole for robbery and statutory rape and was under a parole term that barred him from contacting Blase and the child, prosecutors said. Authorities said he was still living with them and exploiting Blase, who was 18 by the time of the killing, along with at least one other woman. In June 2020, prosecutors charged Ramirez and Blase with murder, assault on a child causing death and torture. Ramirez also faced a special circumstance allegation of murder involving torture, along with prior strike and prior felony allegations.

The May 20 sentencing followed Ramirez’s guilty plea in March 2026. The plea avoided a trial and locked in the punishment of life without parole plus 35 years. Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said the brutality and callousness of the defendant stood in contrast with the innocence and vulnerability of Joziah, whom he described as bloodied, burned, bruised and broken by the person who should have protected him. The family’s words at sentencing focused on grief rather than closure. “There is no closure in a case like this only resolution,” Joziah’s family told prosecutors, saying grief remains and changes shape rather than ending neatly.

Blase’s case remains the next court step. Prosecutors said she was charged as a co-defendant for failing to protect Joziah from Ramirez. She pleaded guilty to felony child endangerment in 2021 and faces a maximum of six years in prison at her scheduled June 17, 2026, sentencing. Ramirez’s case now stands as a life-without-parole judgment in Tulare County Superior Court.

Author note: Last updated June 21, 2026.