Ex-cops in Pa. immigrant death case stand trial

January 10, 2011 at 1:39p.m.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Jury selection is under way in the trial of three former Pennsylvania police officers charged with obstructing the investigation into the fatal beating of an illegal immigrant from Mexico.

Prosecutors say former Shenandoah police Chief Matthew Nestor and two of his subordinates orchestrated a cover-up that protected high school football players involved in Luis Ramirez’s death in July 2008.

Lawyers began picking a jury Monday in federal court in Wilkes-Barre.

The 25-year-old immigrant died after an altercation with a group of teenage athletes. Two men were convicted in October of a federal hate crime for beating and kicking Ramirez. They face a maximum of life in prison when they’re sentenced later this month.