4 police officers among 6 people indicted in race-related beating(Shenandoah, PA)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) -- Six people, including four police officers, were indicted in the fatal race-related beating of a Latino man in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The three indictments include federal hate crime charges, as well as obstruction of justice, conspiracy, official misconduct and extortion charges, authorities said. A federal grand jury handed up the indictments last week, and they were unsealed Tuesday.

Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky are charged with a hate crime for beating Luis Ramirez in July 2008 while shouting racial epithets at him, prosecutors said. Ramirez died two days later.

"Following the beating, Donchak, Piekarsky and others, including members of the Shenandoah Police Department, participated in a scheme to obstruct the investigation of the fatal assault," the Justice Department said.

Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor is charged in two separate indictments with conspiring to obstruct justice, multiple counts of extortion and civil rights violations, authorities said.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/15/hate.crime/index.html

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Go get 'em Feds!

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Lou Dobbs must be so proud. nt

[Altoid_Cyclist]

2. Another reason to be proud of Pennsylvania.

:sarcasm:

Hopefully the Feds will get better results than the state trial.


Acquittals, ralling cry
Four youths — including Donchak and Piekarsky — were previously charged in state court in connection with Ramirez's death. A jury cleared two other teens of all serious charges, and a fourth pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Piekarsky was acquitted by an all-white jury of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation; Donchak was acquitted of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Both were convicted of simple assault, which carry possible one- or two-year prison sentences.

Rest of article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34431271/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts

[T Wolf]

3. This must be from the Kentucky part of Pennsyltucky. Once you get away from Philly or Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania turns into the deep south of the 1950s.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

4. Watch yourself, I got flamed for mentioning that previously.

I live ~ 50 miles from the geographic center of the state and I very much agree with your sentiments however.

[Tunkamerica]

6. Actually the bad parts of kentucky are called the pensylvania parts

It's like the northeast of late 2009 out there. Terrible.

[Rhythm]

9. Nope... Shenandoah is on the I-81 corridor, just northeast of Harrisburg

[midnight]

5. Oops-I have posted this story also... If mods want to combine them they can-

[urbuddha]

7. Shenandoah, Pa is about 35 miles northeast of Allentown

Realistically and unfortunately you can find these kind of people anywhere.:-(

[KamaAina]

8. Northwest

35 miles NE of Allentown would be in NJ.

Also not all that far from Hazleton, which actually passed an ordinance forcing landlords to check the citizenship of rental applicants (which, of course, was promptly thrown out in court). Latinos are starting to appear in what had long been a lily-white area.