Ramsaran to take stand again in murder trial

Sept. 22--Former IBM manager Ganesh "Remy" Ramsaran is scheduled to resume his testimony today in Chenango County Court, where he is being prosecuted for the alleged murder of his wife, Jennifer, in December 2012.

Ramsaran, 39, of South New Berlin, spent more than five hours on the witness stand inside the Norwich courthouse last week, adamantly denying he had any role in the disappearance and death of Jennifer Ramsaran, whose body was found off a remote road in Pharsalia on Feb. 26, 2013.

The Onondaga County medical examiner's office called her death a homicide but because the corpse had been exposed to the elements and wildlife, no specific manner of death was determined.

Ramsaran, who worked from the family home on Sheff Road near Chenango Lake, spent part of his testimony telling jurors he prefers to watch Fox News and is a regular consumer of Chobani yogurt. (Chobani is produced at the company's plant in nearby Columbus.)

He said he, his wife, the couple's three children and his parents all had a family outing at Brooks' House of Bar-B-Q in Oneonta the weekend before his wife vanished on Dec. 11, 2012.

He also said nothing happened out of the ordinary the day before, noting he had dozed off on the couch after watching "Monday Night Raw," featuring professional wrestling. However, he did acknowledge he had a sexual tryst with his then-mistress, Eileen Sayles, his wife's best friend, earlier in the day.

When Ramsaran takes the stand today before the jury of nine men and three women, the direct examination by his attorney, Gil Garcia, will resume.

When Garcia is completed with his examination of the defendant, Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride will have the opportunity to cross-examine him.

Ramsaran took the stand in a surprise move after indicating earlier he was waiving his right to testify. Garcia has said he has no other defense witnesses.

Garcia asked Ramsaran a number of questions about his friendship with Jason Wicks, an Alabama man who has run road races with Ramsaran and testified as a prosecution witness. Wicks said after Ramsaran told him about his affair with Sayles, he advised him to avoid telling his wife about it because she could use it to get alimony from him in the event the couple divorced.

McBride has argued that the motive for the killing was Ramsaran's "obsession" with Sayles as well as financial concerns, such as collecting $200,000 in life insurance from a policy provided by IBM and avoiding losing property and other assets to his wife through a divorce proceeding.

Ramsaran acknowledged that he and Sayles had discussed getting married once they got divorced from their respective spouses. He contended he never told his wife about his affair with Sayles.

However, there has been prosecution testimony that during an argument via text message, Jennifer Ramsaran described Sayles as her husband's "trophy wife."

Garcia has maintained the prosecution's case is weak. He told County Judge Frank Revoir Jr.: "The circumstantial evidence in this case does not demonstrate that there was an intention of killing Mrs. Ramsaran, much less by Mr. Ramsaran."

Ramsaran was charged with second-degree murder on May 17, 2013, by the Chenango County Sheriff's Department immediately following an interrogation by detectives who had delved into the circumstances surrounding his wife's disappearance five months earlier.

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