SCRANTON, Pa. – Closing arguments have finished in the trial of two Pennsylvania man charged with a federal hate crime in the fatal beating of an illegal immigrant.
Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky face potential life sentences if convicted in the death of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez, who died in July 2008 following a confrontation with a group of white high school football players in the former mining town of Shenandoah.
Justice Department prosecutor Myesha Braden told jurors Wednesday that Donchak and Piekarsky were motivated by their dislike of Hispanics when they beat and kicked Ramirez. Braden says the young men even joked about what they had done.
Donchak's attorney, William Fetterhoff, ridiculed the government's theory. He says the fight stemmed from youthful aggression, not ethnic hatred.
Jury deliberations will begin Thursday.
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