Federal Indictments for Hate Crimes, Obstruction of Justice, and Conspiracy

By Brenda Lopez Romero
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Washington, D.C. – Six months after an all-white jury in Schuylkill County acquitted two young men of aggravated assault and one of murder of Luis Ramirez, the federal government indicted five people related to Mr. Ramirez’s case.

Mr. Ramirez was beaten into a coma that led to his death that was found to be racially motivated in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania in July 2008. The federal government brought charges for hate crimes, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. The crime has caused racial tension in the small town. According to the Department of Justice, the two young men that committed the beating while shouting racial epithets at him, Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky, then seventeen and nineteen, are accused of hate crimes.

Donchak also faces three counts of conspiring to obstruct justice because he is accused of attempting to organize a cover-up with the Shenandoah Police Department. Three police officers were also indicted. Police Chief Matthew Nestor, Lieutenant William Moyer and Officer Jason Hayes are charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. Moyer faces additional charges of witness and evidence tampering and making false statements to the FBI. Officer Hayes was dating Piekarsky’s mother at the time.

 

Piekarsky had delivered a fatal kick to Ramirez’s head after Ramirez was knocked to the ground. The state medical examiner found that Ramirez died from blunt-force trauma to the head, according to the state prosecution.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell denounced the attack as racially motivated and asked the Justice Department to intervene. After the verdict, Rendell, in his letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recommending the Justice Department pursue civil rights charges stated “the evidence suggests that Mr. Ramirez was targeted, beaten and killed because he was Mexican … Such lawlessness and violence hurts not only the victim of the attack, but also our towns and communities that are torn apart by such bigotry and intolerance.”

The indictment read that Nestor, Moyer and Hayes purposefully failed to “memorialize or record” statements made by Piekarsky and “wrote false and misleading official reports” to “intentionally omitted information about the true nature of the assault and the investigation.”

Crystal Dillman, Ramirez’s fiancée, welcomes the indictments, but is afraid for her safety and had to moved to an undisclosed location outside Shenandoah because her truck was vandalized and people have yelled racial epithets at her on the streets, according to her attorney.

The Department of Justice said “the FBI wants to hear from anyone who may have information regarding alleged civil rights violations or public corruption in Schuylkill County,” and those with information can contact the Allentown, Pennsylvania, FBI office.

For more information, please see:

CNN – 3 Police Officers Among 5 People Indicted in Race-Related Beating – 15 December 2009

NY Daily News – 4 Cops, 2 Teens Indicted in Hate Crime Probe of Fatal Attack on Latino Man – 15 December 2009

WNEP News Station – Death of Immigrant Leads to Federal Charges – 15 December 2009

Author: Impunity Watch Archive