After completing second grade, Ronald Ramsingh moved from his native St. Croix to Key West, after a few years in Orlando. His mother was originally from Puerto Rico and his dad was originally from Trinidad. Both wanted their son to grow up in a place filled with opportunity yet still have that unique island culture.
"My parents owned the only gas station on Duval Street at that time. I grew up working at the gas station and working on cars after school and on weekends," recalls Mr. Ramsingh.
But growing up he didn't want to be a mechanic or a lawyer; he wanted to be an airline pilot.
"In high school, I took a lot of classes that earned college credits. So when I graduated, I had 42 college credits and started undergrad as a sophomore." He had a civics teacher and football coach that mentored him and gave him career advice, which was to go to law school.
Mr. Ramsingh graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice.
"After graduating from college, I came back to Key West to help run the gas station because my father had open heart surgery."
During the two years when he ran the business, he considered becoming a police officer. In the end, he decided to go to law school at St. Thomas University in Miami to stay closer to home and his recovering father.
"The summer after my second year of law school, I interned at the State Attorney's Office (SAO) and then as a Certified Legal Intern. I loved helping victims. It felt good to do the right thing."
His former sister-in-law was a Judge Advocate General (JAG) in the United State Army, which was something that interested him. Mr. Ramsingh applied to the SAO and to JAG. He received and offer from the SAO first and he accepted.
"Two weeks later, he received an offer from JAG but I told them that I had given my word and was committed to the SAO. That was something that I could not break and had to honor. I am so thankful that I did that."
"I started at the SAO in the Fall of 1999 and was there for almost five years. I was in the Gang Prosecution Unit and in Career Criminal/Robbery Unit."
Mr. Ramsingh looks back fondly at his time as a prosecutor, and there are some cases that have stayed with him all this years.
There is one in particular that he says epitomizes why he became a prosecutor in the first place.
"I was prosecuting a defendant who had a four-page rap sheet. He was facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 30 years for Armed Robbery. The defendant had robbed an undocumented worker from Guatemala."
"Every Friday, the undocumented workers get paid in cash. They don't have bank accounts so they are walking around with money in their pockets and are easy targets."
The defendant in the case had a goatee and there was a question as to whether someone could be recognized accurately if they had facial hair or not.
"I did the first closing at trial and then the rebuttal. At the break before my rebuttal, I had an idea. I asked my assistant to go to my office and get my grooming kit. I went into the bathroom and completely shaved off my goatee."
"When I came out again and was speaking to the jury during the rebuttal, at one point I used the fact that I had shaved my facial hair, yet they could still identify that it was me."
"It was creative and it proved my point. The defendant was convicted and is serving life in prison."
"The victim was in tears and so thankful. He had lived in fear of this man. It took a lot for him to come forward and proceed with case since because of his immigration status."
Mr. Ramsingh had over 30 jury trials during his time as a prosecutor at the SAO. And it was always very present to him that he had a responsibility to the victims and to their cases.
Another case that comes to mind quickly for him is that of the case of the two America West Airlines pilots that were drunk and attempting to taxi for takeoff. "It was initially my case so I'm the one who started to work on it.
"It was memorable because I got to go to the airport and see areas that I would normally not be exposed to. We went on the tarmac and also went into the flight simulator. It was great because of my childhood dream to be an airline pilot."
In 2004, Mr. Ramsingh moved to Port St. Lucie where he worked for two years in a worker's compensation claimant's firm. "It was so boring and unfulfilling."
He wanted to get back to government work and the opportunity at the Key West City Attorney's Office became available to him. "In 2006, the City Attorney's Office wanted to bring everything back in-house that had been handled by outside attorneys. I had the combination of criminal and civil law which was an asset. They offered me the job."
In November of 2018, Mr. Ramsingh will celebrate 11 years with the office where he is now the Chief Assistant City Attorney.
"Criminal prosecution is great but my work now is mainly on the civil side: circuit court litigation, code compliance, labor, municipal criminal prosecution, city boards, etc.... I really enjoy the diversity of what I am doing right now."
"I enjoy being back in my hometown and dealing with the people that I grew up with. There is a lot of institutional knowledge that I can bring to certain situations."
And though the Conch Republic will always have his heart, he has a special part of it reserved for his SAO memories. He offers this advice to current ASAs:
"Whenever you feel down and uninspired, go through your files and find a case that inspires you. Look at that piece of evidence or deposition one more time; call that victim once more and go over the next steps with them. This always worked for me and made me a more successful prosecutor who reminded victims to have faith in the system."
