The jury proclaimed Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky guilty of all charges. Trembling and sobbing, the young men were lead away in handcuffs. The judge ordered them to remain detained pending their sentencing on Jan. 24, 2011.
SCRANTON, PA -- The fate of the two Shenandoah, Pa., men charged with a federal hate crime could be known this Thursday, after both sides took most of Wednesday to present their closing arguments.
Derrick M. Donchak, 20, and Brandon J. Piekarsky, 18, face life in prison if found guilty of the charges stemming from the 2008 beating death of 25-year-old Luis Eduardo Ramírez Zavala, an undocumented immigrant.
Closing arguments carried the same intensity the trial did. Crystal Dillman left the room twice as both defenders delivered their final statments. Earlier, during a break, she was sitting with a photo of Luis Ramírez in her hands.
Prosecutor Myesha Braden focused her closing argument on the tattoo the men planned on having done on their butt.
"'Rest in peace Lupe" the defendants joked about getting a tattoo on their backsides showing no sense of responsibility," she said.
Both defenders argued that Mr. Ramirez Zavala had the chance to decide whether to fight or go away the night he was attacked on July 12, 2008.
"He did not deserve to die," attorney William Fetterhoff said. "He had a chance to leave at the beginning and did not leave."
Mr. Fetterhoff, who represents Mr. Donchak, 20, also said that the prosecution has misrepresented his client.
"An effort has been made to paint him (Mr. Donchak) as an ogre," he said. "The evidence has been twisted to to portray something far from the truth."
Mr. Piekarsky's attorney, James A. Swetz insisted that what happened the night of July 12, 2008, was the product of youth under the influence of alcohol.
"You have a bunch of drunk kids with beer-muscles Piekarsky who wanted to fight anybody," he said.
Swetz said that due to the alcohol the kids had drunk that night their judgment was impaired to formulate the intent of acting on the basis of race and housing.
"That's something deep for a 16-year old, especially housing," he said.
But Assistant Attorney General Gerald Hogan rebutted these statements by saying that what the two accused did were not the actions of kids.
"Not every kid in Pennsylvania uses slurs; not every kid in Pennsylvania listens to racist music; not every kid in Pennsylvania has a fist pad; not every kid in Pennsylvania participates in a beating where a man is kicked while he's lying on the ground," he said.
Then he referred to Mr. Piekarsky, who Mr. Swetz had called "beermuscles", saying that he very well knew who he was attacking.
"Beermuscles, that may be true," Hogan said. "But that does not mean he got into a fight with a guy he referred to as a 'spic'."
Judge Richard A. Caputo adjourned the court till 9 a.m. Thursday, when he will charge the jury and then let them deliberate to get a unanimous verdict.
SCRANTON, PA -- After just 45 minutes of testimony, the defense for the two Shenandoah, Pa., men charged with a federal hate crime rested its case.
Derrick M. Donchak, 20, and Brandon J. Piekarsky, 18, face life in prison if found guilty of the charges stemming from the 2008 beating death of 25-year-old Luis Eduardo Ramírez Zavala, an undocumented immigrant.
Today, it took only one witness, Shenandoah and West Mahanoy Police officer Robert Senape, testified that Ariele Garcia identified Bryan Scully as the one who kicked Mr. Ramírez Zavala in the head.
"She recognized the kids from school," he said. "She identified Scully as the one who kicked the victim as he was lying on the ground."
Judge Richard A. Caputo gave the jury a 45-minute break and instructed the jury not to start discussing the case until they have heard closing arguments that are expected later today.
SCRANTON, PA -- The witness with the strongest testimony today in the trial of two Shenandoah, Pa., men charged with a federal hate crime, was also the witness that opened the door to a bizarre and irrelevant event that could probably bring a serious setback to prosecutors in the case.
Derrick M. Donchak, 20, and Brandon J. Piekarsky, 18, face life in prison if found guilty of the charges stemming from the beating death of 25-year-old Luis Eduardo Ramírez Zavala, an undocumented immigrant.
"Donchak told me we shouldn't do anything (in retaliation of the attack) because they were going to start a civil war in Shenandoah," Mr. Gomez said. "We have friends with powerful weapons."
The defendants sat listening to Mr. Gómez who took the stand to testify specifically against Mr. Donchak.
He and Mr. Gómez, 20, attend Bloomsburg University, where the threat was supposedly made.
That seemed to be a good piece of testimony hanging over Mr. Donchak, who for the past week has been portrayed as a singing racist with deep hatred toward Shenandoah Latinos.
But when the prosecution dug deeper into a violent confrontation that took place on March 2008, their witness started in with his bizarre tale.
The witness said that he was driving his Ford Equinox with friend Rafael Fuentes heading to a pizzeria in Shenandoah.
"I saw this kid running in front of me as the light was changing from red to green," Mr. Gomez said. "Then I saw this crowd getting together and they started screaming once they saw me."
He said a crowd of about 20 people yelled at them things like "go back to Mexico", "scumbag Mexican" and "wetback".
Then, he said, kids from that mob started punching and pulling his friend out of the car.
"Donchak was hitting my car. He had a metal stick and just beat everything by my window," he said. "I had a baseball bat. I got out of the car and started to chase them off."
The only problem was that accounts of the story from various individuals that participated in the confrontation said that Mr. Donchak was not present and that Mr. Gomez never came out of his car with that baseball bat.
Rather, witnesses said that after the confrontation a group of older Latinos showed up with bats and beat kids and cars alike.
Joshua Redmon, 19, testified that he had spent the entire day with Mr. Donchak and that they arrived at the area when the Latinos holding the bats were leaving the scene.
Also, Mr. Redmond testified that he heard Mr. Donchak yell a slur at Ramirez at the beginning of the confrontation. But he said he didn't hear Mr. Piekarsky address Mr. Ramirez Zavala by any racist terms.
Proceedings resume tomorrow at 9 a.m. and they are expected to end early, since judge Richard A. Caputo said he expected to give a lengthy recess after a few testimonies in the morning.
SCRANTON, PA -- After a three-day recess, the federal trial against the two Shenandoah, Pa., men charged with a federal hate crime stemming from the 2008 beating death of Luis Eduardo Ramírez Zavala, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, resumes.
Derrick M. Donchak, 20, and Brandon J. Piekarsky, 18, face life in prison if found guilty.
During the first week of the trial at the William J. Nealon U.S. Courthouse in Scranton, the jury listened to testimony from friends of both of the accused who recounted the young men using racial slurs when referring to Hispanics, as well as, the two concocting with Shenandoah police officers on creating a cover-up.
Defense attorneys, James A. Swetz and William Fetterhoff, have questioned each witness' credibility and recollection of the events that night. Also, they keep on arguing that what happened the night of the attack was a product of mixing three factors: youth, alcohol and testosterone.
However, there has been something missing during the coverage of this trial: la raza. The representative from the Mexican Consulate in Philadelphia and myself are the only ones who have been present since the beginning on Oct. 4.
Gladys Limón with MALDEF arrived Wednesday to be with Crystal Dillman, Luis Ramírez' widow, who, at least once, had to leave the courtroom crying after listening to a 911 recording from the night of the attack.
The Hispanic press has been the most notable no-show in this federal trial. Not even El Mensajero de PA or La Voz Latina, the two local newspapers claiming to represent Scranton's Latino community, have covered the case.
There was no mention of the trial on their web sites, as this post was being uploaded.
Somebody that actually showed up was Dr. Agapito López, community activist, who said that the lack of Hispanics in the jury would have an impact on the final verdict.
Later, I went to take a walk through Scranton and came across a Mexican restaurant. There, server Lalo Martínez came to talk and all of a sudden we were already talking about the trial.
He said it worried him there were no Latino organizations giving voice to Luis Ramirez and the community in general.
In the video, you'll hear what the two of them think about the lack of Latinos in the entire process.
Remember to visit our pitch page on spot.us, where we're fundraising to pay for the coverage of this collaboration between this site and LatinaLista.net. It shouldn't take you more than five minutes to do it and you can even contribute donating that time and not necessarily money.
Finally, follow us on twitter @newsgus, @latinalista, hash tags #luisramirez, #immigration
By Gustavo Martínez Contreras
LatinaLista.net
Posted on October 8, 2010
SCRANTON, PA -- The two Shenandoah, Pa., men charged with a federal hate crime stemming from the beating death of an undocumented Mexican immigrant, often referred to Hispanics with racial slurs, according to testimony from one key witness in the trial.
Testimony today shed light into Derrick Donchak's dislike for Hispanics.
Today at the James A. Nealon US Courthouse in Scranton, Colin Walsh told the jury that Derrick Donchak had a deep animosity toward that ethnic group.
"Yes, he didn't like Hispanics; he really didn't like them," he said. "He called them fucking Mexicans, fucking spics."
Mr. Walsh, 19, also said that Mr. Donchak would listen to racist music, and specifically sing to the song "White Man Marches On" while driving around with friends.
In his account of the attack, Mr. Walsh said that both Mr. Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky yelled racial slurs toward Luis Eduardo Ramírez Zavala.
"Derrick punched him in the face and called him 'spic'," he said.
According to him, Mr. Donchak also used racist terms when yelling at Mr. Ramírez Zavala.
Brandon Piekarsky used racial slurs during the attack, according to testimony.
"He was yelling at him, 'fucking Mexican'," he said. "Later I heard him yell 'Tell your fucking Mexican friends to leave Shenandoah or you'll be fucking lying next to them' as we were leaving."
In April of last year, Mr. Walsh pleaded guilty in federal court to violating Mr. Ramirez Zavala's Fair Housing Rights, admitting that his actions prevented other Latinos from moving into the area.
Thanks to this, all state charges against him were dropped and he is hoping that his cooperation satisfies the government to get a reduction of the four to nine years he faces behind bars.
By Gustavo Martínez Contreras
LatinaLista.net
Posted on October 8, 2010
SCRANTON, PA -- A metal piece supposedly used as a weapon, a tattoo on the butt to celebrate the attack and a cover-up story to tell authorities were part of yesterday's testimony in the trial of two Shenandoah, Pa., men charged for a federal hate crime related to the beating death of an undocumented Mexican immigrant in 2008.
The metal piece
The small metal piece Derrick Donchak allegedly used to hit Luis Eduardo Ramírez Zavala finally showed up in court.
It had been mentioned in the first trial. And not only did the prosecution produce it as Evidence #45, but two witnesses testified as to its effect on the intensity of Mr. Donchak's punching.
Witness Benjamin Lawson told the jury he heard Mr. Donchak say during the meeting at his garage, just after the attack, that he was glad to have had the metal piece in his fist.
Mr. Lawson, 19, also said he remembered seeing the metal piece earlier at Mr. Donchak's.
"I let him punch me with it and without it," he said. "His punch was heavier (with it)."
The metal piece is thus in the story shortly after the beating, according to this version.
Later another witness, Barry Boyer, placed the metal piece in Mr. Donchak's possession at the Polish American Block Party, where Mr. Piekarsky apparently turned belligerent toward a woman and man.
But before that, Mr. Donchak spent some time showing Mr. Boyer, 19, the metal piece he was carrying with him, moments before the fatal encounter with Mr. Ramírez Zavala later that night.
"He wondered what it'd be to hit somebody with the metal piece," Mr. Boyer told the jury. "A hit with it hurt more than a hit without it."
Shortly after the group left the Polish American party they came across Crystal Dillman's 15-year-old sister, Roxanne Spector, and Mr. Ramírez Zavala himself.
A tattoo on the butt
Both Brian Scully and Barry Boyer heard the kids brag about what they had done the night of July 12, and as a badge for la travesura, their prank, they planned on tattooing the name "Lupe" on their butt.
"Because it's a Hispanic name," Mr. Boyer answered when Assistant Attorney General Gerald Hogan asked him why he thought of choosing that name for their butt tattoo.
Mr. Scully said they had some laughs at the idea of getting a tattoo with the name Lupe "on someone's ass".
"It was because he was Mexican," he said.
Soon that idea got put on the back burner in the wake of a developing emergency for them: the need to cover up their actions that night.
The Cover-Up Story
At least two witnesses testified that Mr. Piekarsky told them not to tell anybody he had kicked Mr. Ramírez Zavala in the head.
"I asked who kicked him," Mr. Lawson said. "Brandon Piekarsky said, 'I did, shh!'"
Shortly after this, the group started to make up the cover-up story they would tell police, he said.
"We were going to say that nobody kicked him; that there was no drinking, and there were no racial slurs. We all agreed," Mr. Lawson recalled.
Later Mr. Scully would tell the jury that Mr. Piekarsky arrived to the Donchak house with his mom. As the teens talked about the fight, they realized their situation was worsening.
"We got to get a story. This is bad," said Mr. Scully. "We thought if we had the same story it would be believable."
He also said that Mr. Piekarsky told him at least twice not to tell anybody he had kicked the deceased in the head.
Defense attorney James A. Swetz countered Mr. Scully's testimony by first questioning how much the booze he drank that night had impaired his judgment. Later, he challenged Mr. Scully's motivation for testifying against his friends.
"As you sit here, you hope the federal government don't bring charges against you," said Mr. Swetz. "You are doing this for yourself, isn't that true Mr. Scully?"
Mr. Scully just answered, "yes."
It was a long day of proceedings with four more witnesses taking the stand. Proceedings began at 9 a.m. this morning.
Remember to visit our pitch page on spot.us, where we're fundraising to pay for the coverage of this collaboration between this site and LatinaLista.net. It shouldn't take you more than five minutes to do it and you can even contribute donating that time and not necessarily money.
Kudos also to Dave McAndrews from WFTE in Scranton who couldn't join us in the English podcast tonight.
Finally, follow us on twitter @newsgus, @latinalista, hash tags #luisramirez, #immigration
On Wednesday of this week, the jury was seated for the federal hate crime trial and multimedia reporter Gustavo Martinez Contreras has been tweeting, blogging and podcasting each day's proceedings.
Testimony has been graphic in terms of the defendants' deep-seated hatred for Latinos. According to today's testimony by an eyewitness:
“He was yelling at him, ‘fucking Mexican’,” he said. “Later I heard him yell ‘Tell your fucking Mexican friends to leave Shenandoah or you’ll be fucking lying next to them’ as we were leaving.”
Can you take photos, help report, sift through documents and records, or contribute to reporting in some other way? If so, get in touch with the authors.
