NCLR Expresses Deep Disappointment with Shenandoah Verdict

May 5th, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                              Contact:
May 5, 2009                                                         Marie Watteau
                                                                               (202) 785-1670


NCLR EXPRESSES DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT WITH SHENANDOAH VERDICT

Washington, DC-NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., today expressed deep disappointment with the verdict reached by a jury in Pennsylvania on Saturday which cleared two defendants of the most serious charges in the beating death of Luis Ramirez last July.  The defendants, Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak, were found not guilty of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, and ethnic intimidation charges.

"We agree wholeheartedly with our sister organization MALDEF that justice was not served in this case.  We call on the United States Department of Justice to open an immediate and full investigation of this case as a likely hate crime.  We also urge the Senate to pass the "Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act" as soon as possible to prevent such a miscarriage of justice from happening again," stated Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO.

"We still do not know why the jury chose to act in the way it did, whether the prosecution failed to make its case, or if the credibility of the other assailants in this murder who served as the prosecution's primary witnesses was at issue.  What we do know is that a man who was simply out with friends was brutally beaten, pelted by ethnic slurs, and lost his life as a result.  This cannot be tolerated for any reason," concluded Murguía.

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