Federal officials consider charges

POTTSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Two Pennsylvania teens acquitted of the most serious state charges in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant could still face federal charges.

The Justice Department’s civil- rights division is reviewing evidence surrounding the fatal fight last summer between high school football players and illegal immigrant Luis Ramirez in predominantly white Schuylkill County, spokesman Alejandro Miyar said Tuesday.

A county jury last week acquitted Brandon Piekarsky, 17, of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation and Derrick Donchak, 19, of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Both were convicted of simple assault.

Both defendants are from the small, blue-collar town of Shenandoah, where the July 12 fight occurred when Ramirez, 25, was walking with a 15-year-old girlfriend and encountered a group of teens, at least some of whom had been drinking.

The case has exposed racial tensions in the area, which has attracted Hispanic immigrants in search of farm and factory work. Ramirez moved to the town about seven years ago from Iramuco, Mexico.

“The civil-rights division is reviewing the evidence, to determine if there is a prosecutable violation of federal civil-rights statutes,” Miyar said.

Another defendant, Colin Walsh, pleaded guilty to a federal civil-rights charge before trial and testified at trial, admitting he threw a punch that knocked Ramirez unconscious. He could be out of prison in four years. Another defendant, 18-year-old Brian Scully, is charged in juvenile court with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.

The simple-assault convictions carry possible one- to two-year prison terms. Sentencing has not been scheduled. Donchak was also convicted of corruption of minors and an alcohol charge.