Two convicted in hate-crime death in Pa.

SCRANTON - A jury convicted two Pennsylvania men Thursday of a federal hate crime in the fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant, finding that they attacked the man primarily out of hatred for Hispanics.

An all-white jury in Scranton convicted Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky of violating the civil rights of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez, who died in July 2008 after a confrontation with a group of white high-school football players in the old mining town of Shenandoah. The jury also convicted Donchak of two other counts related to a plot to cover up the beating.

Donchak, 20, sobbed as the verdict was read. Piekarsky, 18, put his head in his hands. Both were led away in handcuffs and ordered held behind bars pending their Jan. 24 sentencing. They could be sentenced to life in prison.

Crystal Dillman, who had two children with Ramirez, said she "couldn't be happier."

"My family finally gets justice - well, some justice - and Luis can finally rest a little bit easier in peace knowing that some justice was served," Dillman said. "It's like a burden's lifted off my chest to know that something was done for Luis."

Prosecutors alleged that Donchak and Piekarsky beat and kicked Ramirez because they did not like Hispanics and wanted them out of their town.

"They showed no remorse that night . . . no sense of responsibility for having beaten a man to the point of death," Justice Department prosecutor Myesha Braden told jurors Wednesday in her closing argument.

The defense said the fight stemmed from youthful aggression, not ethnic hatred, and cast Ramirez as a hothead more than willing to fight.

Defense attorneys William Fetterhoff and James Swetz called the verdict disappointing and pledged to appeal. Prosecutors declined to comment.

Witnesses gave conflicting, and at times confusing, accounts of the late-night brawl that pitted Ramirez against four drunken teenagers during a random encounter on the street.

Federal charges were brought against Piekarsky and Donchak after another all-white jury acquitted them of serious state charges. Hispanic activists decried the May 2009 verdict, calling Ramirez's death part of a rising tide of hate crimes against Latinos. They and Gov. Rendell appealed for a Justice Department prosecution.

Fetterhoff complained Thursday about the second prosecution.

"It is a surprising verdict in view of the first verdict in Schuylkill County Court," said Fetterhoff, Donchak's attorney. "This is exactly the problem when defendants are subject to being tried twice on the same facts."

Piekarsky was accused of delivering a fatal kick to Ramirez's head after he had been knocked unconscious by another teen, Colin Walsh, who pleaded guilty in federal court and testified last week against his childhood friends.

After the fight, the teens met and hatched a plan in which they would falsely tell police that no one was drunk, did any kicking, or used any racial slurs.

Both defendants were convicted of a hate crime under the Fair Housing Act. Donchak also was convicted of two counts that he conspired with Shenandoah police to cover up the crime. The accused officers are scheduled to go on trial early next year.