http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/02/pa.immigrant.beating/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

The story of Luis Ramirez has been in the news for a while now. A group of teens in Pennsylvania brutally beat th shit out of him and he died in a couple days later in the hospital.

I really don't understand how this trial ended with just SIMPLE ASSAULT charges. Just because there were multiple teens involved in the fight and no one can remember who punched the victim where in what order??  idk this is pretty disgusting knowing someone in the group is responsible for his death but welp NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE

Fuck indeed.

I'm not e

man thats so sad to hear. I really hope those assholes get what they deserve asap. racism sucks.

That is a little weird methinks.... Possibly the family of the victim will make an appeal to a higher court?

But I guess the moral of the story is: only beat the crap of people when you're in a group so no one remembers who hit what and how in what order

Nurp. Double jeopardy. They're found not guilty so they'll stay not guilty.

And as an add on to the moral of the story, be stone drunk while you're at it, too. That certainly helps.

You can still be tried on a  federal level although i doubt that will happen, even if they've already been tried on a state/whatever level.

i hate white people so fucking much.

Guddam crackuhs
It depends on whether the federal government has jurisdiction, doesn't it? I dunno exactly, but maybe because the guy was an immigrant the defendants can be prosecuted again on a federal level? Hm.

We just covered this in class, but I seriously doubt that it will be taken to the federal level all things considered.  While as horrible as it is it's kind of the run-of-the-mill violence.  Not something that has wider reaching consequences.

it wont go federal but you guys know...there is a state court of appeals???

POLI SCI GUY here but yeah they might try to appeal this. I don't know if they will though. the fact they couldn't get those charges to stick means they might just cut their losses and focus on getting the harshest punishment for...sounds like ASE said they got some assault shit. I dunno there's a few ways this could go but it's fucked up that they had a dude BLEEDING HIS BRAIN OUT and couldn't get a harder charge to stick.

Yeah, I don't see these guys being retried in a criminal court for this.  However, the family of the victim may be able to take them to civil court and sue the little bastards (Brown v Simpson anyone?).  I'm not sure the 17 year old can be sued, but the 19 year old sure as hell can be since he wasn't a minor at the time of the beating.

god the part that gets me is even a really bad defense attorney should have been able to sell the fact the dude's BRAIN came out. like that is one of those facts you sway juries with all the fucking time.

i'm WINCING thinking about it.

i always tell myself that if i am on a jury i will vote not guilty no matter what

i always tell myself that if i am on a jury i will vote not guilty no matter what

you secretly have the right to convince a jury to vote not guilty on moral grounds btw. like if you said "the defendant regrets his actions, we're letting him go", they can't runaway jury that in a lot of cases. it's called jury nullification and legally they can't tell you about it before you go into the jury box but wikipedia and I am because I think it's fucking fascinating and considering your average jury is incredibly stupid I think it could only help.

so yeah just dont mention it in voir dire though.

nothing in your last post made sense btw

but i guess my point was that i dont know if i would vote not guilty in a case like this but i probably would

nothing in your last post made sense btw

but i guess my point was that i dont know if i would vote not guilty in a case like this but i probably would

it makes perfect sense. i'm telling you you're allowed to do this. you can vote someone not guilty for no reason other than you feel they shouldn't be found guilty. you admit they did it but you say EH anyways. it's called jury nullification and you are not told about it on purpose.

god the part that gets me is even a really bad defense attorney should have been able to sell the fact the dude's BRAIN came out. like that is one of those facts you sway juries with all the fucking time.

i'm WINCING thinking about it.

I talked to a few of the locals there and it boils down to racism.

The place is described as being a "post-Depression era ex-coal mining town" that is stricken by poverty and severe racial divides.

Example: Hazleton immigration ordinance

A federal judge has struck down the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, ruling Hazleton's proposed crackdown on landlords and employers doing business with illegal immigrants is unconstitutional.

In a 206-page opinion, U.S. District Judge James M. Munley stated, "Federal law prohibits Hazleton from enforcing any of the provisions of its ordinance" aimed at expelling illegal immigrants

One of the ones I talked to described their working situation and racism seems to be the hot topic at the water cooler. They are scape-goating "niggers and spics" for their living situation. The reason why their town is so poor is because they are taking all of their jobs (hint: not true) and they go on to blame them for everything else that goes wrong in America.

So yeah... racism is one factor, and being highschool football stars is another. This puts them at a celebrity status to the locals and people from around there say they can get away with anything. With this in mind it doesn't surprise me that the value of the immigrant's life was much less than that of the defendants.

It's awful how this can still happen in the US.