Jury deliberations to begin in Pa. hate crime case

[October 14, 2010]  SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) -- A jury is set to begin deliberating the fate of two Pennsylvania man charged with a federal hate crime in the fatal beating of an illegal Mexican 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.

Prosecutors allege that Donchak and Piekarsky were motivated by their dislike of Hispanics when they beat and kicked Ramirez.

The defense says the fight stemmed from youthful aggression, not ethnic hatred.

Closing arguments were delivered Wednesday. An all-white jury in Scranton is expected to get the case late Thursday morning.

[Associated Press]

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