January 09, 2011 Melissa Yarborough Gustavo, thank you for your work in covering this important trial. I'm more interested in reading your account of the story than anything in mainstream media. ¡Y gracias por ofrecer la información en español también!
Good luck tomorrow and look forward to reading the information you uncover. It is reassuring that one in our community is there to bring us the truth.
Gustavo, do you know of any plans to have Piekarski and Donchak re-tried for the murder of Luis Ramírez Zavala? If the three men on trial now are found guilty, I imagine it would prompt a retrial of the teens who killed Ramírez since they'll have established the errors in their initial trial. ¿Sabes si hay planes de juzgar de nuevo a Piekarski y Donchak por el homicidio de Luis Ramírez Zavala? Si a los tres hombres siendo procesados ahora les hallan culpables, imagino que eso provocará un nuevo juicio de los adolecentes que mataron a Ramírez ya que habrán establecido los errores del su primer juicio.
Gustavo, do you know of any plans to have Piekarski and Donchak re-tried for the murder of Luis Ramírez Zavala? If the three men on trial now are found guilty, I imagine it would prompt a retrial of the teens who killed Ramírez since they'll have established the errors in their initial trial. ¿Sabes si hay planes de juzgar de nuevo a Piekarski y Donchak por el homicidio de Luis Ramírez Zavala? Si a los tres hombres siendo procesados ahora les hallan culpables, imagino que eso provocará un nuevo juicio de los adolecentes que mataron a Ramírez ya que habrán establecido los errores del su primer juicio.
Melissa, First, thanks for your support. No, the Constitution prohibits that anybody be tried twice for the same thing. So that won't happen. Last October, a federal jury in Scranton convicted Brandon J. Piekarsky and Derrick M. Donchak of a hate crime for violating the criminal component of the federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it a crime to use a person’s race, national origin or ethnicity as a basis to interfere, with violence or threats of violence, with a person’s right to live where he chooses to live. In addition, the jury found that Donchak conspired to, and did in fact, obstruct justice. Both of them face life in prison. Their sentencing will be Jan. 24.
