Vol. 74/No. 42      November 8, 2010

Ramírez, a Mexican immigrant worker, was beaten to death by a group of white youth who targeted him because he was Latino. Donchak gripped a piece of metal called a “fist pack” while hitting Ramírez. After Ramírez was knocked to the ground, he was kicked in the head until he stopped moving. He died two days later.

This was the second trial of Donchak and Piekarsky. In May 2009 a state court acquitted the two of charges that included murder, aggravated assault, and ethnic intimidation. They were convicted on the lesser charge of simple assault, a decision that was met with protests by supporters of immigrant rights.

A federal grand jury indicted Donchak and Piekarsky in December 2009 on “hate crime” charges of violating Ramírez’s civil rights, a charge that carries a potential life sentence.

Testimony in the eight-day trial showed that Donchak and Piekarsky were among those who stomped and killed Ramírez as they shouted racist epithets. “Tell your Mexican friends to get the f*** out of Shenandoah,” they yelled at Ramírez’s friends, “or you’ll be laying next to him.”

Federal prosecutors also presented evidence of the assailants’ racist views—music with white supremacist lyrics they listened to, a T-shirt reading “Border Patrol” that one wore, other things they said—to make the government’s “hate crime” charge. Such prosecutions reflect a growing trend to criminalize the political attitudes and motivations of the accused, an approach that taps into widespread revulsion of racist attacks and aims to promote the idea that the government acts as a force to curb racist, anti-Semitic, or xenophobic attitudes perpetuated by the capitalist system it defends.

Donchak’s and Piekarsky’s defense was to falsely portray the murder as a street fight gone wrong. “Alcohol, youth, testosterone” were the problem, argued James Swetz, Piekarsky’s lawyer.

Court testimony showed that following the murder, the assailants were aided in their attempt to cover up the murder by a number of Shenandoah cops, including Matthew Nestor, former chief of police. The cops, who have since resigned, are scheduled to go on trial in the same federal court on January 10 for obstruction of justice.

“Justice has been done in this case,” Agapito Lopez, a long-time fighter for immigrant rights in Hazleton and a member of the Pennsylvania State Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, told the Militant. “It is important to set a precedent to help stop other attacks.”

In an editorial, the Philadelphia Inquirer put the blame on the working class, saying, “Some struggling small towns seem to be stuck in an era of separate water fountains.”

However, Shenandoah has been growing, as more Dominicans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans have moved there.

“It’s not the people in the town,” Fermin Bermejo, a Puerto Rican who has lived in Shenandoah for 18 years, said, explaining the reasons for the attack to the press. “It’s the people who run the town.”

Sentencing for Piekarsky and Donchak is set for January 24.  
 
 
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