ALL WHITE JURY ACQUIT RACIST TEENS WHO BEAT MEXICAN IMMIGRANT TO DEATH

Prosecutors alleged that Brandon Piekarsky, 17, and Derrick Donchak, 19, baited the Ramirez into a fight with racial epithets, provoking an exchange of punches and kicks that ended with Ramirez convulsing in the street, foaming from the mouth. He died two days later in a hospital.

Some satisfied, others outraged with verdict for immigrant’s death

By Emanuella Grinberg
CNN

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090504/music_nm/us_forte

Some are calling it proof that the justice system works, others, a travesty of justice that sends an “extremely dangerous” message that you can beat an undocumented immigrant to death and get away with it.

Two Pennsylvania teens were acquitted Friday of the most serious charges in the death of Luis Ramirez, who died of blunt force injuries to the head after a fight on a residential street in the rural mining town of Shenandoah.

Prosecutors alleged that Brandon Piekarsky, 17, and Derrick Donchak, 19, baited the Ramirez into a fight with racial epithets, provoking an exchange of punches and kicks that ended with Ramirez convulsing in the street, foaming from the mouth. He died two days later in a hospital.

The incident drew national attention to the small town of Shenandoah, highlighting issues of race relations.

Gasps filled the courtroom in Pottsville as not-guilty verdicts were announced on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and ethnic intimidation for both teens.

The gasps came from relatives of the defendants, who had to be restrained by sheriff’s deputies as they tried to rush the defense table to congratulate the teens. Ramirez’s sole supporter, his wife, Crystal, had left the courtroom before the verdicts announced.

Piekarsky was also acquitted of third-degree murder for allegedly delivering a fatal kick to Ramirez’s head after he was knocked to the ground.

As they poured out of courthouse, the teens’ supporters shouted “I was right from the start” and I’m glad the jury listened” at cameras that caught the late-night verdict.

But Gladys Limon, a spokeswoman for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the jury had sent a troubling message.

“The jurors here [are] sending the message that you can brutally beat a person, without regard to their life, and get away with it, continue with your life uninterrupted,” she said.

“In this case, the message is that a person who may not be popular in society based on their national origin or certain characteristic has less value in our society,” she said.

The all-white jury of six men and six women from Schuylkill County jury found Piekarsky and Donchak guilty of simple assault.

They also convicted Donchak of providing alcohol to the other teens who were involved in the confrontation, including a juvenile co-defendant and another teen who pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in the fight.

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