Man behind crime spree that killed 10-year-old pleads guilty, faces death penalty
A man who went on a murder and robbery spree in 2013, including killing a 10-year-old boy, pleaded guilty Thursday morning to a slew of charges stemming from the three-week crime wave.
Anthawn Ragan Jr., 31, was soft spoken as he entered the guilty plea before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez. After the spontaneous plea, Ragan rubbed his head with his hands, which were handcuffed.
Ragan is still facing the death penalty for gunning down 10-year-old Aaron Vu during a robbery of his parents’ nail salon in northwest Miami-Dade in 2013. In Thursday’s hearing, Ragan waived his right to have a jury decide his fate, opting instead for a judge to do so, an unusual move for a defendant facing execution.
Ragan’s first-degree murder trial for the child’s death was slated to begin in late January. It is now expected to start Feb. 9.
Ragan’s violent crime spree began with the Nov. 1, 2013, execution-style killing of Luis Miguel Perez, a small-time drug dealer, at a motel and ended with the Nov. 22, 2013, murder of Aaron at the Hong Kong Nail Salon, 14832 NW Seventh Ave.
READ MORE: Miami-Dade jurors opt for life over death for convicted murderer of small-time dealer
On the day of Aaron’s murder, Ragan and another man — whom has never been identified — burst into the nail salon with their guns drawn and collected more than $300 in cash and jewelry from customers and employees. As they were leaving, investigators say, Ragan turned around and fired at Aaron and his father, killing the child and leaving his father Hai Nam Vu with a gunshot wound.
The boy’s father survived.
The death of Aaron, who played trombone in his school orchestra and had the role of a wise man in his school’s Christmas play, galvanized the community. Family, friends and longtime customers of his parents’ nail salon attended his viewing and funeral services.
READ MORE: Viewing held for Miramar boy shot to death during nail salon robbery
Not his only death case
Last May, a Miami jury voted to sentence Ragan to life in prison, rather than the death penalty, for Perez’s murder.
During the sentencing trial, Ragan’s defense team argued his life should be spared because of a troubled childhood in which he regularly changed schools and committed crimes that escalated in gravity. Ragan’s lead attorney Tony Moss explained how his father was locked up for life after being convicted of murder while Ragan was still in his mother’s womb and how several family members were absent during his upbringing, many serving time for serious crimes. (Moss defended Ragan’s father in a murder case in the 1990s.)
Lead state prosecutor Scott Warfman argued that Ragan was “brazen” in his crime wave — and was killing for the “thrill.”
“He left behind his path of destruction and pain,” Warfman said during the sentencing.
By the end of the three-week crime spree, Ragan was responsible for two killings, two attempted murders and a vicious robbery at an all-night hamburger joint.
This report was supplemented by the Miami Herald archives
