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.
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Posted by Latina Lista on 10/11/10
