Tag: Pennsylvania immigrant attack

Latinos in Pennsylvania Fearful After Teenagers Are Cleared of Serious Charges in Immigrant Death

By Diego Graglia, FI2W web editor

There is fear among Latinos in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.

“The message the justice system sent to young white men here is that they can continue to beat up and kill Latinos, because in the end, a year in jail is all they will have to pay,” Jon Zamudio, a 26-year-old local resident, told New York newspaper El Diario/La Prensa.

Zamudio was referring to the verdict last week that cleared two local teenagers of the most serious charges in relation to the fatal beating of an undocumented Mexican immigrant last summer.

An all-white jury acquitted Brandon Piekarsky, 17, of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation, and Derrick Donchak, 19, of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation, The Associated Press reported. Both were convicted of simple assault, a second-degree misdemeanor. They could be sentenced to one to two years in prison.

The victim was Luis Ramirez, a 25-year-old man originally from the Mexican state of Guanajuato. He worked at a factory and in the fields, picking strawberries and cherries. He lived with his American fiancee Crystal Dillman and had two children.

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