Luis Eduardo Ramírez Zavala, a 25-year-old undocumented Mexican immigrant, was beaten to death in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, in July of 2008. His death was at the hands of four white teens, who targeted and beat him simply for being Latino.
Two of those implicated in the killing got a deal from authorities while the other two faced a state trial. On May 1, 2008, a Schuykill County jury acquitted the two teens charged with third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation despite several witnesses testifying they had been the ones who killed Ramírez Zavala while yelling racial epithets and punching and kicking Ramírez Zavala in the body and head so severely it caused the victim to foam at the mouth and sustain two skull fractures.
The irregularities that took place in the trial from the very beginning caught the attention of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and prompted the agency to open its own investigation. In December 2009, the DOJ filed hate crime charges against Brandon Piekarski and Derrick Donchak, who face possible life sentences after their Oct. 14 conviction for violating Ramirez's civil rights.
The Federal investigation shed light also onto the wrongdoings of the Shenandoah Police Department. Matthew R. Nestor, William Moyer and Jason Hayes, three former policemen of that department, face federal charges for their participation in the cover-up of the crime.
Just after Luis Ramirez’ death, many Latino residents expressed fear of the police and those who spoke, under anonymity, told stories of abuse and intimidation done unto them or somebody they knew. Even I, as a journalist, was denied information several times. “Nothing happened here,” told me once then-lieutenant Moyer. “We don’t have anything for you here.”
As it turns out, they had plenty of information and were hiding it from everybody hoping it’d go away. Now, the three of them will face their fate starting Jan. 10 in a Federal Court in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Nestor, Moyer and Hayes, who were chief, lieutenant and officer, respectively, along with the Shenandoah police department, are charged with obstructing the investigation of the July 12, 2008, beating of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala.
This story is personal to me. I have followed it since it began more than two years ago. I know its characters and its locations. That is what I bring once more in hopes to tell a good story and let my community know what is happening with one of their own.
I am asking the Spot.us community to help me fund this coverage. The circumstances are very similar to last October. I would have to relocate for two or three weeks to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and from there give daily updates on the proceedings, constant tweets from the courthouse and a Spanish podcast for community radio stations across the country.
Last time was very instructive. Thanks to the Spot.us community, it was possible to produce original and exclusive Spanish content directly from trial. Community radio stations picked up the daily Spanish podcast. Spanish radio stations usually serve disenfranchised communities and lack the resources to even get access to the news wires. Here we would be delivering them the news about one of their own en su idioma.
