White Jury in White Town Finds White Kids Not Guilty of Bias Crime
In spite of the overwhelming evidence against them, an all-white jury found Derrick Donchak, 19, and Brandon Piekarsky, 17, not guilty of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and ethnic intimidation for the death of Luis Ramirez. Details of the crime flooded the news media including this story by CNN [Town struggles with fallout from immigrant's fatal beating - CNN.com] which stated:
Blows had struck the 25-year-old illegal Mexican immigrant with such force that they left a clotted, bruised impression of Jesus Christ on the skin of his chest from the religious medal he wore.
According to eye witnesses and investigative reports, the teens lured Ramirez into a fight using racial epitaphs which led prosecutors to label the murder a “hate crime.”
Ramirez was walking with an unidentified young girl at the time. According to witness Eileen Burke, as the white kids beat Ramirez, they yelled to the girl:
You effin bitch, tell your effin Mexican friends get the eff out of Shenandoah or you’re gonna be laying effin next to him.
Considering the above statement obviously was intended to cause terror amongst a group, not an individual, and was overheard by an eye witness who witnessed the second part of the brutal beating of Mr. Ramirez, the only reason an all-white jury would find the white kids innocent would be: they want the “effin Mexicans” gone too.
A kick to the head resulted in Mr. Ramirez going into convulsions. The injuries ultimately caused his death.
