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THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS

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     JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FINISHES THE JOB

 

   It is inspiring when you see the system work. When it doesn't you call me. But sometimes the system works. A man is beaten into a coma based on his race.  The police conspire with the criminals and falsify reports and lie to the FBI.  The Justice Department indict all of them.  True at the local level the police system of checks and balances failed. Possibly such events will cause local judges and federal judges to take note that yes police lie and collaborate to hide events that have occurred. It is not shocking. It is human nature. However, what is shocking is when the Courts fail to recognize that these bad apples have been there, are there and will be there. It is our job to clean up this mess.  This is not one of  those tragedies. Sure it would be nice if the local police could police their own and save taxpayers money in having to get the Justice Department involved.   Wolves have never been very good at keeping wolves from the chickens. 

 

  

Washington (CNN) -- Five people, including three police officers, have been indicted on charges related to the beating death of a Latino man in rural Pennsylvania in July 2008, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Two indictments charge the five with federal hate crimes, obstruction of justice and conspiracy in what authorities are calling a racially motivated attack.

The indictments come almost six months after a Schuylkill County jury acquitted two teens of aggravated assault and one of murder in the death of Luis Ramirez.

The undocumented Mexican immigrant was beaten into a coma during a street brawl involving the teens and their friends on a residential street in Shenandoah. The incident divided the small, rural mining town along racial lines and became a flash point for racial tensions nationwide.

After the verdict, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell denounced the attack as racially motivated and called on the Justice Department to intervene.

A federal grand jury handed up the indictments last week, and they were unsealed Tuesday. The two young men, Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky, are accused of a hate crime for beating Ramirez while shouting racial epithets at him, according to the department.

If convicted of hate crime charges, Donchak and Piekarsky face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Donchak also faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted of obstruction, and an additional five years on the charge of conspiring to obstruct justice.

Donchak also faces three counts of conspiring to obstruct justice and related offences. He is accused of attempting to orchestrate a coverup with members of the Shenandoah Police Department, the Justice Department said.

Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor and Lt. William Moyer and Officer Jason Hayes are charged with conspiring to obstruct justice in the Ramirez investigation. Moyer faces additional charges of witness and evidence tampering and making false statements to the FBI.

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

Nestor, Moyer and Hayes each face up to 20 years in prison on each of the obstruction charges if convicted, authorities said, along with an additional five years on the charges of conspiring to obstruct justice. Moyer faces an additional five years if convicted of making false statements to the FBI.

....

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

For the rest of this story go to CNN

 

 

 



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