Donchak paroled on state charges in immigrant death case



10:40 a.m. EST, February 24, 2010


POTTSVILLE, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania man accused of a federal hate crime in the beating death of an illegal Mexican immigrant has been paroled on related state charges.

Schuylkill County President Judge William Baldwin granted parole to 20-year-old Derrick Donchak on Tuesday. Donchak had been in prison following his conviction on simple assault charges in the 2008 death of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez in Shenandoah.

A jury acquitted Donchak and another man of the most serious state charges against them. But Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky are both facing federal hate crime charges. Piekarsky has already been paroled on the assault charge.

Three former Shenandoah police officers also face federal charges for allegedly obstructing the investigation into Ramirez's death.


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