Testimony expected to begin in hate crime trial of 2 Pa. men in fatal beating of immigrant
By APThursday, October 7, 2010
Testimony expected to start in Pa. hate crime case
SCRANTON, Pa. — Testimony is set to begin in the hate crime trial of two Pennsylvania men charged in the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant.
Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak are on trial in federal court in Scranton. They’re charged in the 2008 death of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez in the mining town of Shenandoah.
Ramirez, who was in the country illegally, died after brawling with a group of high school athletes. Prosecutors say Piekarsky and Donchak took part because of racial animosity toward Hispanics.
The defendants say Ramirez’s ethnicity had nothing to do with the melee. During Monday’s opening statements, defense attorney James Swetz told an all-white jury the fight stemmed from “alcohol, youth and testosterone.”
Piekarsky and Donchak were acquitted of the most serious state charges against them last year.
