On July 12, 2008, Luis Ramirez, a 25-year-old Mexican immigrant residing in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, was tragically beaten and stomped to death by a group of teens as he walked through the town. Witnesses overheard anti-Mexican and ethnic epithets shouted by his assailants during the violent attack. A retired Philadelphia police officer testified during the preliminary hearing that she heard one of the attackers yell, “Tell your [expletive] Mexican friends to get the [expletive] out of Shenandoah or you’ll be [expletive] laying next to him.”
On Friday, May 1, 2009, a jury in Schuylkill County found two of the defendants accused of beating the 25-year-old, father of two, not guilty of third degree murder and ethnic intimidation. Despite the overwhelming evidence of a hate-driven attack, the jury convicted them only on charges of simple assault. The jury’s conclusion is an outrage. Most shocking was the news article indicating that the jury foreman noted racism among his fellow jurors during the trial, thereby suggesting that the trial of the defendants was biased because of the racism and prejudice. Luis Ramirez was fatally beaten and even in death, Ramirez remains a victim of extreme racism, which denies his family the justice they deserve.
Ther has been a public outpouring in support for the Department of Justice to investigate. The Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund has started a petition in an effort to raise awareness and bring justice to this case. So far, 25,000 people have signed the Luis Ramirez Hate Crime Petition in the last 72 hours to protest his brutal murder by teens in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.
End the hate, lock up all haters (cold blooded killers), they have a corner in Hell to send them too, its what they really love!
This is a disgrace they should be punished for what they did to luis!!! Where’s the justice!!! Those kinda people should be locked away for good!!! One question if it would have been the other way around would they have done the same to them!!!! This crime cannot go unpunished!!!!