A jury in Schuylkill County now has the case of two teens charged in the beating death of an illegal immigrant last summer in Shenandoah.
Closing arguments in the beating death of Luis Ramirez were heard Friday morning.
The jury got the case Friday afternoon.
The jury began deliberating at 3 p.m. in the trial involving the murder of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez, an illegal immigrant who lived in Shenandoah.
"If that had been my son up there I would have been scared for him," said alernate juror Annetee Holopirek. She spoke after the rest of the jurors began deliberating. "He shouldn't have worn taht shirt. That to me is a big ethnic intimidation as far as I'm concerned."
Holopirek was talking about the t-shirt Derrick Donchak is seen wearing in a photo taken at a Halloween party last year after aggravated assault charges were filed against him. It says, "U.S. Border Patrol" on it.
Closing arguments in the trial for Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak took three hours. The defense said the case isn't about reasonable doubt, it's about overwhelming doubt. The proseuction said the teens' lawyers are trying to create doubt where there is none.
The packed courtroom first heard from the lawyer for Derrick Donchak, who is charged with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.
His attorney said Donchak tried to break up the fight and that's when Luis Ramirez got aggressive. Defense attorney Jeff Markosky said, "The evidence simply doesn't show that Derrick's actions rose to the level of aggravated assault."
Brandon Piekarsky's lawyer ripped into Chief Detective Anthony Carroll, who he said didn't show eyewitnesses the footwear of one of the other boys involved, even when two of the witnesses said the person who delivered the fatal kick wore white sneakers.
Piekarsky's attorney Fred Fanelli said, "The key to their freedom is in Brian Scully's bedroom, and he won't go and get it."
The defense focused on several stories told from the teens who were there that night and sai Luis Ramirez was the one who got aggressive with the boys who were acting in self defense.
But the prosecution said the other boys who were there that night told the truth on the stand and said Piekarsky delivered the fatal kick when Ramirez was down and the actions of the teens that night confirmed the racial slurs that were screamed before the beating, whether it was the co-defendants who screamed them or not.
Assistant District Attorney Rob Franz said, "Brandon Piekarsky went too far. A fight's a fight, but you never kick someone when they're down."
He also attacked the defense's argument that multiple stories from the group of friends casts reasonable doubt, along with the ever-changing version of the events.
Franz said, "Team bonding runs deep, doesn't it? Doesn't that type of promise take time to come apart?"
During the trial neither Piekarsky nor Donchak took the stand. The alternate juror said she would have felt more sympathy for them if they had. "if they would have stuck those boys on, my heart would have, if I would have seen remorse, as a mother and as a woman, my heart would have went out," Holopirek added.
Brandon Piekarsky is charged with third-degree murder. Derrick Donchak is charged with aggravated assault. Both are charged with ethnic intimidation.
Newsawtch 16 will be at the Schuylkill County courthouse either until the jury reaches a verdict or until they break for the night.
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The jury got the case Friday afternoon.
The jury began deliberating at 3 p.m. in the trial involving the murder of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez, an illegal immigrant who lived in Shenandoah.
"If that had been my son up there I would have been scared for him," said alernate juror Annetee Holopirek. She spoke after the rest of the jurors began deliberating. "He shouldn't have worn taht shirt. That to me is a big ethnic intimidation as far as I'm concerned."
Holopirek was talking about the t-shirt Derrick Donchak is seen wearing in a photo taken at a Halloween party last year after aggravated assault charges were filed against him. It says, "U.S. Border Patrol" on it.
Closing arguments in the trial for Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak took three hours. The defense said the case isn't about reasonable doubt, it's about overwhelming doubt. The proseuction said the teens' lawyers are trying to create doubt where there is none.
The packed courtroom first heard from the lawyer for Derrick Donchak, who is charged with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation.
His attorney said Donchak tried to break up the fight and that's when Luis Ramirez got aggressive. Defense attorney Jeff Markosky said, "The evidence simply doesn't show that Derrick's actions rose to the level of aggravated assault."
Brandon Piekarsky's lawyer ripped into Chief Detective Anthony Carroll, who he said didn't show eyewitnesses the footwear of one of the other boys involved, even when two of the witnesses said the person who delivered the fatal kick wore white sneakers.
Piekarsky's attorney Fred Fanelli said, "The key to their freedom is in Brian Scully's bedroom, and he won't go and get it."
The defense focused on several stories told from the teens who were there that night and sai Luis Ramirez was the one who got aggressive with the boys who were acting in self defense.
But the prosecution said the other boys who were there that night told the truth on the stand and said Piekarsky delivered the fatal kick when Ramirez was down and the actions of the teens that night confirmed the racial slurs that were screamed before the beating, whether it was the co-defendants who screamed them or not.
Assistant District Attorney Rob Franz said, "Brandon Piekarsky went too far. A fight's a fight, but you never kick someone when they're down."
He also attacked the defense's argument that multiple stories from the group of friends casts reasonable doubt, along with the ever-changing version of the events.
Franz said, "Team bonding runs deep, doesn't it? Doesn't that type of promise take time to come apart?"
During the trial neither Piekarsky nor Donchak took the stand. The alternate juror said she would have felt more sympathy for them if they had. "if they would have stuck those boys on, my heart would have, if I would have seen remorse, as a mother and as a woman, my heart would have went out," Holopirek added.
Brandon Piekarsky is charged with third-degree murder. Derrick Donchak is charged with aggravated assault. Both are charged with ethnic intimidation.
Newsawtch 16 will be at the Schuylkill County courthouse either until the jury reaches a verdict or until they break for the night.
