A Connecticut man was convicted and sentenced for second-degree assault and first-degree unlawful restraint. Carlos Ramos threatened the life of his girlfriend, punched and kicked her on the ground and then forced himself upon her; he did not face rape charges because she allegedly consented. He invoked the “dumbbell defense” blaming his behavior on his use of anabolic steroids (”Victim asks judge to go easy on abuser,” August 30).
“I was not like that before I did steroids,” Carlos Ramos said. “I know I hit her, but I don’t remember doing it.”
Judge Michael Sheldon, of the Litchfield Superior Court, agreed that anabolic steroids caused Ramos to beat his girlfriend.
