In the Pennsylvania town of Shenandoah last spring, prosecutors alleged that Luis Ramirez, an undocumented Latino immigrant from Mexico, was beaten to death in 2008 because of his race. The defense attorneys argued that Mr. Ramirez acted aggressively and charged after the teenagers.. The jury cleared the teenage defendants of aggravated assault, third degree murder and ethnic intimidation charges and convicted them of simple assault, a second-degree misdemeanor, which carries a 1 to 2 year sentence. One defendant, Brandon Piekarsky was scheduled to be released on December 23, 2009, while the other, Derrick Donchak, does not have a specific release date. These light sentences recall the Vincent Chin case where the defendants pleaded guilty to third-degree manslaughter and were sentenced to three years probation, a $3000 fine and $780 in court costs for beating Vincent Chin to death with a Louisville Slugger fueled with alcohol and racial animus. (Ronald Ebens's conviction under the federal civil rights laws was reversed on appeal).

Due to two recent federal indictments, however, the Ramirez case will not end here. In December 2009, federal prosecutors indicted Piekarsky and Donchak and charged them with federal hate crimes arising from Mr. Ramirez’s death. If convicted, Piekarsky and Donchak face a maximum penalty of life in prison. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mannion ordered Messrs. Piekarsky and Donchak jailed until their trial on federal hate crime charges. The federal judge referred to the defendants "dangers to the community" whose alleged actions led to the rare intervention of the U.S. Attorney General.

Donchak has also been charged with obstruction of justice. An FBI investigation uncovered evidence that Shenandoah police Chief Matthew Nestor, Lt. William Moyer and Officer Jason Hayes interfered with the investigation of Mr. Ramirez’s death.

Nestor, Moyer and Hayes have been charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. Moyer has been also charged with witness and evidence tampering and lying to the FBI, according to authorities.  The DOJ alleges that Moyer and Hayes helped the teenagers create a story and cover up the crime.

Stay tuned.  It looks like the DOJ is back in business.