Here's some backstory from another blogger...
Absolutely disgusting.
The Feds should should stepped in and this should have been addressed for its hate crime components, and the charges should have been upgraded to what they were.
That's homicide, not assault.
The Patriot-News did a front page story on Sunday on the results of the trial, and you can see the community is split right down the middle. Often, the responses saying "he got what he deserved" came from the old timers in that community. It tended to be younger people or people who came from somewhere else to live there that had a more realistic perception of how wrong this really was.
"Shenandoah is a town of about 5,600 set amid mountains in Schuylkill County," which is too damn close for me now. I think they should move the whole damn county somewhere. Like maybe Iran.
Here are some excerpts from that article, "Killing and Verdict Rip Town," in our city paper:
(article written by Ford Turner)
"Their community has not come to grips with the fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant by a group of white teenage athletes. Like a jury, they talk, haggle and try to sort out the facts.
A real, legally mandated jury in Pottsville on May 1 found two of the athletes innocent of the most serious charges in the case.
But the people of Shenandoah are nowhere near reaching a community verdict. The ugliness spawned by the killing continues."
There is racial tension, suspicion of the police, a distaste for news reporters and an awareness that the government is not done with the situation."
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"Alejandro Miyar, a spokesman for the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice, said in a written statement there was an 'ongoing criminal investigation ' involving the July 12, 2008, beating death of Luis Ramirez in Shenandoah.
The division and the FBI closely monitored the state prosecution of the case, Miyar said. He said action would be taken if a review of the evidence uncovered "prosecutable violation of federal criminal civil rights statutes."
J.J. Klaver, an FBI special agent, said the agency would not comment."
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"Ellen Burke, a resident, said of the police, 'They should all be fired.'"
(NOTE: Ms. Burke is a former Philadelphia city police officer and the murder occurred practically in front of her house.--me)
'The Shenandoah police were the last ones here,' she said. 'It's horrendous. I am just appalled.'
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"Piekarsky was acquitted of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation. Donchak was acquitted of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.
The jury found each guilty of a lesser charge, simple assault."
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One of the old assholes who agreed with the verdict said of local Hispanic people, "They should chase them all out of town."
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"A former municipal police officer who has lived in the area for years and did not want to be identified said the result of the Piekarsky-Donchak trial 'puts fear in the Hispanic people.'"
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"According to testimony at the trial, a group of teenagers that included players for the Shenandoah Valley High School football team encountered a 15-year-old girl in a borough park after they drank malt liquor on July 12.
One athlete called out to the girl, who according to trial testimony, had had a sexual relationship with Ramirez, 25.
He was an illegal immigrant who had worked in a factory and picked fruit.
Ramirez responded to the group of teenagers. There was a fight, and racial slurs were shouted. At the conclusion of the fight, Ramirez was kicked in the head as he lay motionless on Lloyd Street, according to testimony.
There was disagreement about who delivered the kick. Ramirez died about 30 hours later."
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Here's CNN on it...
Murder is Legal in Shenandoah.
Here's a clip from a while back, before the trial date had even been set. Listen to what the brain-dead and soul-dead cunt from Effort, PA says...
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2 comments:
Debbie Rabold is an idiot. The guy was there for 7 years but only last summer was killed. Him having or not having a green card did not cause his death.
I could just as easily say that the police not patrolling that park was a proximate cause of his death. As was the purchasing of the beer for underage drinkers who obviously could not hold their likker. Why weren't they charged for underage under the influence? A conviction of an underage drinking charge would be more punishment than what the jury handed out.
Oh, that old geezer is a racist idiot, too. Joe Katolick.
As is the District Attorney. He did not even call the most important witness - the retired Philly police officer who witnessed part of the attack. He needs to be replaced.
Hi Sauerkraut,
Wow, you actually know these people.
I guess that makes sense when one considers how small your community is, and it looked sort of self-contained and closed-off in the aerial photo of the town.
Oh, the crazy anti-logic lady? Yeah, logic like that doesn't wash, and she just sounded like one of the locals would have sounded back when Emmett Till was slaughtered. I'm sure they were saying the same things she said there on that tape about Till.
Yeah, that was VERY troubling that the former police officer who had so much first hand knowledge wasn't called.
I came late to this story as I had somehow missed it when it broke originally.
I only know because our local paper gave it some coverage.
I also read some responses from one of the lil killers to a latino blogger...he was cavalier and childish in his response, and seemed to have little regret, really.
He is a kid, sixteen, and possibly not that bright. But regret for a death is something a morally intact person would be expected to feel. I think all the "support" he's gotten from family and others has convinced him that he's truly blameless now...and of course getting off like that would only increase that perception...especially on the part of somebody very dumb.
I think a lot of the response has to do with the "mold" the white boys fit...decent-looking, white, high school athletes.
If they were cruddy druggies or (god forbid!) black males, I'm sure they would have gone down in chains and shame.
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