Thread: At Justice Department, Perez Vows Action on Hate Crimes

At Justice Department, Perez vows action on hate crimes

Thomas Perez says he was "shocked" by his predecessors' record. (Associated Press)

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The leader of the Justice Department's civil rights unit has decried a recent spate of hate-crime cases across the United States and pledged to make prosecuting violent "equal-opportunity bigots" a top priority in the coming year.

The remarks of Thomas E. Perez, who took over the Civil Rights Division about two months ago, came on the same day as federal prosecutors in Roanoke won a criminal conviction against William A. White, a leader of the neo-Nazi group American National Socialist Workers Party, for making threats and intimidating a witness against him.

And last week, a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania charged two white men in connection with the fatal beating of a Latino man walking home from a community festival in July 2008, nearly six months after a local jury had acquitted the pair of the most serious charges against them.

The grand jury also charged the Shenandoah police chief, a lieutenant on the force, and another police officer with conspiracy to obstruct justice for allegedly trying to cover up the attack.

Perez said in a speech on Friday to the American Constitution Society, and in comments to reporters, that he was "shocked" by what he described as the feeble record of his predecessors under President George W. Bush in bringing hate-crimes cases.

"I spent the better part of a decade prosecuting hate-crime cases, and I know what they can do to a community," he told reporters last week. "I got a tour of the route that James Byrd Jr. was taken as he was dragged toward his death. I saw the utter inhumanity of man toward man."

Perez served as a deputy assistant attorney general from 1988 to 1999, under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He was Maryland's labor secretary when President Obama tapped him for the civil rights post.

Last week, Obama signed a spending measure that will give the civil rights division funds to hire 102 staff members, many of whom will be lawyers assigned to hate-crimes investigations. In October, after more than a decade of consideration, Congress expanded hate-crime protection to cover sexual orientation.

But the Obama administration's ambitious agenda on hate crimes and other civil rights issues has been complicated by controversies, including a dust-up over why the Justice Department dropped a voter intimidation case in Philadelphia this year against members of the New Black Panther Party. The move rankled some career lawyers and Republican lawmakers, who successfully petitioned for an internal ethics investigation into why the case had been dismissed.

Perez's confirmation was held up for months in part because of the Black Panther case, which was brought at the end of the Bush years and abandoned before Perez got to the Justice Department under Obama.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) inserted language into the omnibus budget bill late last week that requires Justice Department leaders to share the results of the ethics probe with lawmakers.

"There is something strange going on here," Wolf said in an interview. "We're just going to continue to push this thing until the full story comes out. . . . Voting intimidation is wrong whether it be in Philadelphia, Mississippi, or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

Perez told reporters that "we welcome the results" of the investigation and confirmed that subpoenas had been received "for a number of current and former employees," but he declined to comment in depth about the case.

The civil rights unit during George W. Bush's presidency was often controversial for its focus on religious discrimination and for hiring practices that the department's inspector general concluded were influenced by political motivations. But conservatives are watching the department's new leaders for signs that they might be falling into their own political traps.

Robert Driscoll, a Justice Department official in the civil rights division during the Bush years, said: "No matter what they do, no matter what their emphasis is, the things they do should be well-grounded in the law. They're running into trouble when they don't do that."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... s_politics

And last week, a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania charged two white men in connection with the fatal beating of a Latino man walking home from a community festival in July 2008, nearly six months after a local jury had acquitted the pair of the most serious charges against them.

What story is this? Surely this is not in regards to the teenagers in the park? This sounds like a completely different story the way it is described.

W

The best paragraph in the article!

But the Obama administration's ambitious agenda on hate crimes and other civil rights issues has been complicated by controversies, including a dust-up over why the Justice Department dropped a voter intimidation case in Philadelphia this year against members of the New Black Panther Party. The move rankled some career lawyers and Republican lawmakers, who successfully petitioned for an internal ethics investigation into why the case had been dismissed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obama spends his days getting his people off of charges.

Did they ever find that Lockabie Bomber? Obama was part of letting that terrorist out too! He's involved inletting all Muslims out of prison. Wait till the Gitmo pukes walk!

But the Obama administration's ambitious agenda on hate crimes and other civil rights issues has been complicated by controversies, including a dust-up over why the Justice Department dropped a voter intimidation case in Philadelphia this year against members of the New Black Panther Party.

Perez can still choose to re-open this investigation. Why doesn't he? Is it because the perps do not fit the agenda?

ALIPAC wrote:

Quote:
And last week, a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania charged two white men in connection with the fatal beating of a Latino man walking home from a community festival in July 2008, nearly six months after a local jury had acquitted the pair of the most serious charges against them.


What story is this? Surely this is not in regards to the teenagers in the park? This sounds like a completely different story the way it is described.

W


3 police officers among 5 people indicted in race-related beating

December 15, 2009 7:49 p.m. EST

Luis Ramirez was in a coma on life support before he died two days after he was beaten.

Washington (CNN) -- Five people, including three police officers, have been indicted on charges related to the beating death of a Latino man in rural Pennsylvania in July 2008, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Two indictments charge the five with federal hate crimes, obstruction of justice and conspiracy in what authorities are calling a racially motivated attack.

The indictments come almost six months after a Schuylkill County jury acquitted two teens of aggravated assault and one of murder in the death of Luis Ramirez.

The undocumented Mexican immigrant was beaten into a coma during a street brawl involving the teens and their friends on a residential street in Shenandoah. The incident divided the small, rural mining town along racial lines and became a flash point for racial tensions nationwide.

After the verdict, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell denounced the attack as racially motivated and called on the Justice Department to intervene.

A federal grand jury handed up the indictments last week, and they were unsealed Tuesday. The two young men, Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky, are accused of a hate crime for beating Ramirez while shouting racial epithets at him, according to the department.

If convicted of hate crime charges, Donchak and Piekarsky face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Donchak also faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted of obstruction, and an additional five years on the charge of conspiring to obstruct justice.

Donchak also faces three counts of conspiring to obstruct justice and related offences. He is accused of attempting to orchestrate a coverup with members of the Shenandoah Police Department, the Justice Department said.

Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor and Lt. William Moyer and Officer Jason Hayes are charged with conspiring to obstruct justice in the Ramirez investigation. Moyer faces additional charges of witness and evidence tampering and making false statements to the FBI.

Nestor, Moyer and Hayes intentionally failed to "memorialize or record" statements made by Piekarsky about the incident, and "wrote false and misleading official reports" that "intentionally omitted information about the true nature of the assault and the investigation," the indictment said.

Nestor, Moyer and Hayes each face up to 20 years in prison on each of the obstruction charges if convicted, authorities said, along with an additional five years on the charges of conspiring to obstruct justice. Moyer faces an additional five years if convicted of making false statements to the FBI.

At the time of Ramirez's death, Hayes was dating Piekarsky's mother and Moyer's son was a high school freshman who played football with the youths involved in the attack, according to the indictment.

State prosecutors alleged that a group of teens including Donchak and Piekarsky, then 19 and 17, baited Ramirez into a confrontation after a night of drinking. Donchak and Piekarsky were walking home from a local festival when they encountered Ramirez and attacked him, "striking and kicking him while members of the group yelled racial slurs at him," the Justice Department said.

Prosecutors alleged Piekarsky delivered a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after Ramirez was knocked to the ground. A medical examiner ruled Ramirez died from blunt-force trauma to the head.

In June, an all-white Pennsylvania jury acquitted Piekarsky of third-degree murder and convicted him and Donchak of misdemeanor simple assault. The two were also found not guilty of aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and hindering apprehension.

Donchak was convicted of corrupting minors for providing the alcohol to his friends before the fight. The two were sentenced to up to 23 months in the county jail.

After the verdict, Rendell sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recommending the Justice Department pursue civil rights charges.

"The evidence suggests that Mr. Ramirez was targeted, beaten and killed because he was Mexican," Rendell wrote. "Such lawlessness and violence hurts not only the victim of the attack, but also our towns and communities that are torn apart by such bigotry and intolerance."

Gladys Limon, an attorney representing Crystal Dillman, Ramirez's fiancee, said Dillman welcomes the indictments, but remains fearful for her safety. Dillman has moved to an undisclosed location outside Shenandoah. Her truck was vandalized, and some people have yelled racial epithets at her on the streets, the attorney said.

"She is overwhelmed and is feeling a range of emotions," Limon said. "His family has suffered a great deal in the past year."

It has been particularly hard for Ramirez's family as the holidays approach, she said.

"The children miss their father. Crystal misses having him around for the holidays," Limon said. "Crystal says this is a gift from God, that this will bring justice to Luis."

A petition calling for federal charges in the case garnered 50,000 signatures, Limon said.

A hearing in the case was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

"The FBI wants to hear from anyone who may have information regarding alleged civil rights violations or public corruption in Schuylkill County," the Justice Department said Tuesday. Those with information can contact the Allentown, Pennsylvania, FBI office.

CNN's Emanuella Grinberg, Rose Arce and Jacinth Planer contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/15/hat ... index.html