Pa. police accused of cover-up in beating case

[Derechos]

SCRANTON, Pa. — The trial of two white teenagers charged with a federal hate crime in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant focused Friday on an alleged cover-up orchestrated by police officers with close ties to the defendants.

Shenandoah police threatened witnesses, sought the destruction of evidence and tried to place blame where it didn't belong, according to testimony meant to bolster the government's allegation that three former officers obstructed a federal investigation into the July 2008 assault.

The officers are scheduled to go on trial early next year, charged with sabotaging the probe into Ramirez's death by altering evidence and lying to the FBI.

Prosecutors in this week's hate crime trial are trying to prove that Derrick Donchak, now 20, and Brandon Piekarsky, now 18, were motivated by their dislike of Hispanics when they took part in the attack on Ramirez, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant, in the former mining town 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Piekarsky is accused of delivering a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after he'd already been knocked unconscious by another teen, Colin Walsh, who pleaded guilty in federal court last year to violating Ramirez's civil rights and testified Friday against his one-time friends.

Donchak also took part in the fight and then conspired with police to cover up the crime, federal prosecutors say.

Donchak, Walsh told the jury, "didn't like Hispanic people. He REALLY didn't like Hispanic people."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20101008/us-immigrant-killing-students/

[Mnemosyne]

1. KnR for visibility. n/t