Pa. teens acquitted of major charges in immigrant's death

POTTSVILLE, Pa. - A jury last night acquitted two teenagers of all serious charges against them stemming from the fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant last summer.

Jurors acquitted 17-year-old Brandon Piekarsky of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation. The jury cleared 19-year-old Derrick Donchak of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Both were convicted of simple assault.

The defendants hugged each other after the verdicts were read, and friends and family members clapped.

Earlier, prosecutors had cast Ramirez as the victim of a gang of drunken white teens motivated by their dislike of their small coal town's burgeoning Hispanic population, while defense attorneys bitterly accused the District Attorney's Office of twisting the facts out of a desperate need to cast blame.

Displaying a candid photo of Ramirez, a farmhand and factory worker from Iramuco, Mexico, Schuylkill County District Attorney Robert Franz told jurors, "He was assaulted and he was beaten and he was killed for walking the streets of Shenandoah. He didn't deserve that."

Franz said Piekarsky kicked Ramirez in the head while he lay defenseless in the street, having already been knocked out by another teen during the July 12 fight.

But Piekarsky's attorney, Frederick Fanelli, said prosecutors had the wrong guy. He insisted that one of the prosecution's key witnesses, Brian Scully, 18, was the kicker.

"He's the guy who delivered the kick," Fanelli said in his closing argument.

Fanelli said prosecutors handed deals to key witnesses - including Scully and Colin Walsh, 17, who has admitted to knocking Ramirez unconscious with a single punch to the face - giving them a strong motive to lie.

Walsh pleaded guilty in federal court to violating Ramirez's civil rights and could be out of prison in four years. On the witness stand, he identified Piekarsky as the kicker. So did Scully, who told jurors he tried to kick the immigrant but missed. Scully is charged in juvenile court with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.

The fight began late July 12 when a half-dozen teens, all Shenandoah residents who played football at Shenandoah Valley High School, were walking home from a block party and came across Ramirez and his 15-year-old girlfriend in a park.