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  1. #1
    Senior Member FedUpinFarmersBranch's Avatar
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    Pa. teens cleared of serious charges in beating of immigrant

    Pa. teens cleared of serious charges in beating of immigrant
    Posted 1h 21m ago | Comments 6 |




    POTTSVILLE, Pennsylvania (AP) — An all-white jury on Friday acquitted two Pennsylvania teenagers of all serious charges against them stemming from the fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant last summer.
    Jurors acquitted 17-year-old Brandon Piekarsky of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation. The jury cleared 19-year-old Derrick Donchak of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Both were convicted of simple assault.

    The defendants hugged each other after the verdicts were read, and friends and family members clapped.

    After four days of often conflicting testimony, jurors were left to sort out the facts of an epithet-filled brawl that pitted popular football players against a 25-year-old Hispanic who appeared willing to fight.

    Prosecutors cast Ramirez as the victim of a gang of drunken white teens motivated by their dislike of their small coal town's burgeoning Hispanic population. Defense attorneys called Ramirez the aggressor and bitterly accused the district attorney's office of twisting the facts out of a desperate need to cast blame.

    FIND MORE STORIES IN: Pennsylvania | Mexico | Frederick | District Attorney | Shenandoah | Schuylkill County | Luis Ramirez
    The case exposed ethnic tensions in Shenandoah, a blue-collar town of 5,000 that has lured Hispanic residents drawn by cheap housing and jobs in nearby factories and farm fields. Ramirez moved to the town about seven years ago from Iramuco, Mexico, working in a factory and picking strawberries and cherries.

    Displaying a candid photo of Ramirez, Schuylkill County District Attorney Robert Franz told jurors Friday, "He was assaulted and he was beaten and he was killed for walking the streets of Shenandoah. He didn't deserve that."

    Piekarsky was accused of delivering a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after he'd already been knocked unconscious by another teen. His attorney, Frederick Fanelli, insisted that one of the prosecution's key witnesses, 18-year-old Brian Scully, was the kicker.

    The fight began late July 12 when a half-dozen teens, all Shenandoah residents who played football at Shenandoah Valley High School, were walking home from a block party and came across Ramirez and his 15-year-old girlfriend in a park.

    Scully asked the girl, "Isn't it a little late for you to be out?" That enraged Ramirez, who began yelling in Spanish and dialing friends on his cellphone. Scully admitted to shouting ethnic slurs. The verbal sparring soon turned into a physical altercation as Ramirez and Piekarsky traded blows, though prosecutors and defense attorneys disputed who threw the first punch.

    Donchak then entered the fray and wound up on top of Ramirez. Prosecutors said he pummeled Ramirez, holding a small piece of metal in his fist to give his punches more power. Defense attorneys said Donchak tried to break up the fight between Piekarsky and Ramirez and denied he had a weapon.

    The two sides eventually went their separate ways. But Scully kept yelling at Ramirez, prompting the immigrant to charge after the group.

    Colin Walsh, 17, then hit Ramirez, knocking him out.

    Fanelli accused prosecutors of ignoring exculpatory evidence, including statements by two of Ramirez's friends shortly after the fight that the kicker wore white sneakers — the color Scully was wearing.

    He also said prosecutors offered leniency to key witnesses — including Scully and Walsh, who admitted to knocking Ramirez unconscious with a single punch to the face — giving them a strong motive to lie.

    Walsh pleaded guilty in federal court to violating Ramirez's civil rights and could be out of prison in four years. On the witness stand, he identified Piekarsky as the kicker. So did Scully, who told jurors he tried to kick the immigrant but missed. Scully is charged in juvenile court with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.

    Fanelli derided the prosecution testimony as "bought and paid for."

    Franz, the prosecutor, denied any misconduct on the part of the district attorney's office.

    "This case is not about the government out for a pound of flesh," he said. Instead, he said, it could be boiled down to a single sentence: "Never kick a man when he's down."

    Franz urged the jury: "Remember Luis Ramirez."

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... htm?csp=34
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  2. #2
    Senior Member vmonkey56's Avatar
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    Prosecutors cast Ramirez as the victim of a gang of drunken white teens motivated by their dislike of their small coal town's burgeoning Hispanic population. Defense attorneys called Ramirez the aggressor and bitterly accused the district attorney's office of twisting the facts out of a desperate need to cast blame.
    This illegal should never have been in America.
    And I bet these young boys were not allowed to fight at all in our good ole Public Schools.

    Boys are different than girls! And I guarantee you - Ramirez had been in many fights in his life.

    DA, you are partly to blame - why aren't the courts calling ICE?
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

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