A grieving Long Island mom is fuming over the “sweet plea deal” granted to the teenager who gunned down her defenseless son in a cold-blooded gang initiation.
Erica Rimmer claimed a reluctant Ramon Lyons, now 16, had been “coaxed” by Suffolk County Supreme Court Judge Karen Kerr into taking the 12-year plea deal for the 2021 murder of her son, 21-year-old Luis Cameron Rimmer-Hernandez.
“The judge ended up breaking everything down in baby terms to him and basically coaxed him into taking the plea deal, telling him this is not going to get better for you if you go to trial,” Rimmer told The Post in a recent interview.
“I knew our system was flawed … But to experience it myself, it makes me feel like my son’s life didn’t matter,” she said.
“That’s basically what Judge Kerr is telling me — that my son’s life didn’t matter and this cold-blooded murderer’s life matters.”
Lyons was just 14 years old when prosecutors said he walked up to Rimmer-Hernadez on Aug. 9, 2021, in Huntington Station and fired off at least a half-dozen shots, leaving the victim mortally wounded on the pavement.
Rimmer said her son had just gotten to a friend’s home with some food when his killer came up along the side of the house and opened fire without notice.
The teen was arrested nearby for the execution-style slaying and charged with second-degree murder as a juvenile — meaning that he faced up to 15 years behind bars, rather than the maximum of 25 years to life for an adult defendant.
Disheartened, Rimmer, a school paraprofessional, prayed the teen killer would at least get the max — and said the judge “should’ve taken the deal off the table.”
“Imagine how that is for me,” she said. “She gave him chance after chance when he didn’t deserve that. I still wonder why she gave it to him.”
Lyons pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Oct. 18 and is expected to be sentenced to the 12 years by Kerr at a hearing on Nov. 13.
“It’s like a slap in the face to get this far,” Rimmer said. “It’s been two years and three months. To wait all this time just to see this murderer get a sweet plea deal. He’ll be 26 and eligible for parole.”
The mom said she was “never asked” about the plea deal by prosecutors or the court, “But they knew where I stood.”
Al Baker, a spokesman for the New York State Office of Court Administration, defended Kerr’s decision to sign off on the plea deal, saying several factors were considered.
“This defendant was a 14-year-old juvenile offender when he committed the crime,” Baker said in a statement.
“The agreed-upon plea agreement, by both parties, of 12 years to life versus a maximum, by law, of 15 years to life, is a serious and significant sentence,” he said. “In taking into account all the facts and circumstances of the case, Judge Kerr’s determination was that this best served the interest of justice.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney blamed the state’s “Raise the Age” law, which upped the age for young violent felons to be sentenced as adults to 18 and made it more difficult to prosecute younger defendants as adults.
“Unfortunately the unintended effect of New York’s 2018 ‘Raise the Age’ law is an increase in shootings and violent crimes committed by young offenders, such as this defendant, who was only 14 years old when he took the victim’s life,” Tierney said in a statement announcing the plea earlier this month.
“Gangs are increasingly using younger members to carry weapons and commit shootings because they know that these offenders will face lesser consequences,” he said. “The murder of Cam was a direct consequence of this misguided ‘Raise the Age’ law.”
Lyons’ lawyer, Matthew Tuohy, called the case a tragedy for all involved.
But Rimmer said it was a bitter pill to swallow after losing her first-born child to senseless violence.
“My son touched many lives in 21 years,” she said. “He was a good soul. For his life to be taken the way it was, it’s just horrible.”
She added that her son’s murderer “shows no remorse.”
“That kills me. You know how much it hurt looking at that kid and his eyes, and he just had a blank face, no expression? Didn’t put his head down once. He didn’t care,” Rimmer said.
“I put my faith in the justice system and I didn’t get justice for my son.”