BY PETER E. BORTNER
STAFF WRITER
Published: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 4:15 AM EDT
The two teenagers still charged in connection with the fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in Shenandoah will this morning begin to help pick the Schuylkill County citizens who will decide their fate.

About 150 people will report to Courtroom 1 for the selection of jurors for the case of Brandon J. Piekarsky and Derrick M. Donchak. The process will begin at 9 a.m., county Court Administrator Lois A. Wallauer said Tuesday afternoon.

President Judge William E. Baldwin, who will preside over Piekarsky and Donchak’s trial, will conduct the individual voir dire, or questioning, of the prospective jurors.

Baldwin has set aside three days for jury selection, with the trial scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday. Twelve jurors and four alternates will be picked.

Questioning will determine whether a juror has any biases or fixed opinions about the case, which has attracted international attention because of the issues of illegal immigration and racism. It will also explore whether the jurors know any of the people involved in the case, including possible witnesses — who might include the third teenager originally charged.

Piekarsky, 17, of Shenandoah Heights, is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, ethnic intimidation, criminal solicitation/hindering apprehension or prosecution and purchase, consumption, possession or transportation of liquor.

Third-degree murder, with a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in a state correctional institution, is the most serious degree of homicide Piekarsky faces.

Donchak, 19, of Shenandoah, is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, criminal solicitation/hindering apprehension or prosecution, ethnic intimidation, corruption of minors, purchase or consumption of alcohol by a minor and selling or furnishing alcohol to minors.

Prosecutors dropped charges on Friday against Colin J. Walsh, 17, of Shenandoah Heights, who had faced a possible 20- to 40-year state prison term if he had been convicted of third-degree murder, the most serious charge he had faced. District Attorney James P. Goodman said Walsh has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to at least one charge in connection with the case, but federal authorities have not released details about the plea.

Schuylkill County detectives had charged the three with assaulting, and Piekarsky and Walsh with killing, Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala, 25, of Shenandoah, on July 12.

Detectives also allege that all three yelled racial epithets at Ramirez, who died two days later at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville.

Wallauer said her office has sent 625 juror summonses for the case and received about 150 responses, which she said is a normal rate.

Goodman will have eight peremptory challenges, which can be used to strike a juror for no reason at all. Frederick J. Fanelli, Pottsville, Piekarsky’s lawyer, and Jeffrey M. Markosky, Mahanoy City, Donchak’s lawyer, have four such challenges each. All three will have an unlimited number of challenges for cause to use to strike jurors whose biases or fixed opinions about the case would not allow them to render an impartial verdict.

pbortner@republicanherald.com

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