Background:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-155124-teens.html

Web Posted: 05/06/2009 2:48 CDT
Immigrant's death may be labeled hate crime
By Gary Martin - Express-News

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department acknowledged Wednesday it has launched an investigation of the death of a Mexican immigrant in Pennsylvania to see if it should be prosecuted as a hate crime.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Hispanic rights groups had been pressuring for such a probe after an all-white jury acquitted two teenagers on state charges of ethnic intimidation and third-degree murder, convicting them on a lesser charge of simple assault.

Alejandro Miyar, a Justice Department spokesman, confirmed that the “Civil Rights Division is reviewing the evidence to detemine whether there is a prosecutable violation of federal civil rights statutes.â€