On Wednesday morning, a Santa Barbara jury unanimously convicted Jiram Tenorio-Ramon, 26, of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Camarillo man Robert Dion Gutierrez, 52, on Stearns Wharf on December 9, 2022.
Gutierrez and his family were visiting Santa Barbara from their home in Camarillo on the couple’s 20th wedding anniversary, when a walk on Stearns Wharf turned deadly. Gunfire erupted, and Gutierrez was fatally shot from behind. According to visual evidence and Harbor Patrol testimony, a Harbor Patrol officer had rushed to the scene and attempted to save his life as his wife knelt and wept around his body and the killer fled the scene.
Fast-forward almost four years. Inside Department 2, up the ornate spiral staircase of Santa Barbara’s Courthouse, where weddings and tours abound, Ramon, represented by public defender George Steele, appeared in court for his second trial regarding that December night on the wharf. His first trial in 2025 left a hung jury (11 to one) following about two weeks of deliberations and ended in mistrial. In Ramon’s retrial, the new jury found him guilty in less than a day of deliberations following two days of closing arguments, which concluded Tuesday…