Shenandoah Hate Crime Trial

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/04/pennsylvania.immigrant.beating.death/index.html?iref=allsearch

This crime is about two young men who beat an illegal Mexican immigrant to death while yelling racial slurs over a year ago. It was said that Brandon Piekarsky(age 18) and Derrick Donchak(age 20) starting figthing with Luis Ramirez(age 25) after having some drinks in the small, rural mining town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. The two men were convicted of misdemeanor simple assault, but acquitted of felony counts including aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and hindering apprehension. Jurors found Piekarsky not guilty of third-degree murder. Prosecutors alleged he delivered a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after Ramirez was knocked to the ground in the alcohol-fueled brawl on a residential Shenandoah street. After last year's trial, the two were sentenced to up to 23 months in the county jail. Now if convicted on the federal hate crime charges, Donchak and Piekarsky face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Donchak also faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted of obstruction, and an additional five years for conspiring to obstruct justice.

This is where I believe the media takes over with the way they show the story. Clearly two men beat another man to death, so everyone knows there should be a pretty harsh punishment somewhere down the line. However, the two men have only so far been charged with 23 months in county jail. The writer of the story states that this is a rural town and the jury was made of all "whites," hinting that this was a slanted jury. The author mentions many times throughout the piece that this is a rural area, which I believe is getting their point across. The article also states this is not the first time Piekarsky and Donchak to have physically confronted Ramirez, again hinting that this happened before yet they got off pretty easy in their first trial. Finally, ending the article the writers states, "A medical examiner ruled Ramirez died from blunt-force trauma to the head, according to the indictment." I believe this is the best part of the whole story because here the author is calling out the slanted jury basically saying how can you say not guilt from the charge mentioned earlier when you have this evidence right infront of you? I definitely do not think this is for entertainment, do to the verdict of the first trial this case in now getting national attention. Hopefully justice will be served in the new trial thats about to begin.