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Racist Small Town Hoodlums Getting Away with Murder

Brian Fairbanks — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:10:00 GMT

Brandon Piekarsky entering court before his acquittal on third-degree murder charges. Piekarsky's level of involvement in the killing is unclear, as he wasn't believed to have helped in the beating.

On July 12th, in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, a group of white teenagers were walking home when they came across a young Hispanic man in the park with a teenage girl. One of them yelled out, "Isn't it a little late for you to be out? Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here."

The Mexican man, whose name was Luis Ramirez, became enraged and screamed back at them and began calling for backup. Eighteen-year-old Brian Scully then traded punches with Ramirez, with no one ever agreeing on how the fight actually got started. Derrick Donchak, then 19, jumped on top of the badly-beaten Ramirez and, with a piece of metal between his knuckles, began pummeling Ramirez's face. Miraculously, Ramirez was able to recover and the boys ran off, hurling more racial slurs back as they ran. This enraged Ramirez, who chased after them until a quick blow to the head from Colin Walsh, a 17-year-old component of the all-white group, wiped him out. While Ramirez was down, Scully (it is said by witnesses) kicked Ramirez in the head, causing him to foam at the mouth and convulse. He died as a result of that brutal blow.

At the boys' trial, no one seemed to dispute these facts (except which boy did what.) Nonetheless, the jury acquitted the accused of third degree murder and various other charges while convicting them of simple assault. The defendants and their families emerged from the courtroom triumphant, while legal observers say this was on obvious miscarriage of justice:

"There's been a complete failure of justice," said Gladys Limon, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, who attended the trial and informed Ramirez's family of the verdict. "It's just outrageous and very difficult to understand how any juror could have had reasonable doubt."

She said the evidence "clearly established that Luis Ramirez was brutally beaten."

Prosecutors cast Ramirez as the victim of a gang of drunken white teens motivated by a dislike of their small coal town's burgeoning Hispanic population. But the jury evidently sided with defense attorneys, who called Ramirez the aggressor and characterized the brawl as a street fight that ended tragically. [New York Daily News]
As Avery Friedman argues persuasively in the video from CNN yesterday, this was a pretty clear-cut case of jury nullification: the weight of evidence against the accused was so powerful that it's clear the all-white jury -- like similar juries in the South during the Civil Rights struggle -- was not going to convict two young white men of murdering a Mexican. Even if, as Friedman says, "the only reason he is dead is because he was Mexican." [Crooks and Liars]

Now, some activists are putting pressure on the state's Democratic Governor, Ed Rendell, to speak out about the hate crime. They believe the worst is still to come from a town that is almost 100% Caucasian and only 1% Hispanic...

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Sloppy Seconds: These Boobs Are Made of Magic

Brian Fairbanks — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:20:00 GMT

You may need to right-click these links to open them in a new tab/window.

Here's your Fark-ready story of the day: the speed camera guy was caught speeding!

As if Michael Jackson doesn't have enough problems, he's being sued by a former publicist for $44 million.

The world just discovered that kids are inspired to have sex after watching TV.

Your headline of the day: "Q: What do you do when your little girl is playing with her brother's penis?"

These boobs can do magical tricks.

Wouldn't it be amazing if Stringer Bell became James Bond after Daniel Craig.

Bristol Palin thinks abstinence works. Just when we were beginning to think she was intelligent.

And Kiefer Sutherland had a fight. Unfortunately, it wasn't for 24.

You Can't Argue With A Conservative... No, Really, It's A Fact

Brian Fairbanks — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:35:00 GMT

We're traveled all across the country for political reasons over the years. Sometimes to cover a story for a newspaper, other times to campaign for our preferred candidate. And not to get all "there are only two kinds of people in this world, son" on you, but... there are two kinds of political people in this country: the liberal, who thinks just because he's right and has the facts on his side, he can change the oppositions mind, and the conservative, who thinks if he just sticks to his talking points and ignores what the other person is actually saying, he will eventually get the other person to give up.

They're both wrong, although a new study shows that presenting facts and truth to conservatives makes them more likely to reaffirm their original position...

From the Washington Post:

One group was given a refutation -- the comprehensive 2004 Duelfer report that concluded that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction before the United States invaded in 2003. Thirty-four percent of conservatives told only about the Bush administration's claims thought Iraq had hidden or destroyed its weapons before the U.S. invasion, but 64 percent of conservatives who heard both claim and refutation thought that Iraq really did have the weapons. The refutation, in other words, made the misinformation worse.

[The study suggests] that Republicans might be especially prone to the backfire effect because conservatives may have more rigid views than liberals: Upon hearing a refutation, conservatives might "argue back" against the refutation in their minds, thereby strengthening their belief in the misinformation. [They] did not see the same "backfire effect" when liberals were given misinformation and a refutation about the Bush administration's stance on stem cell research.

Well, either that or liberals are just whimps who cower before conservative's loud awesomeness!

Via HuffPo.

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Don't F*ck With People From Detroit

Brian Fairbanks — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:32:00 GMT

Alex Zola is from Detroit. When he first moved to New York City twenty years ago, his father gave him some advice: "If someone mugs you, give them everything they want. Everything. Offer your shoes as well. That should make them happy."

The unsaid piece of advice he decided not to add was: "If someone fucks with you, tell 'em, 'Don't fuck with me, I'm from Detroit..."

Of course, Zola was subsequently mugged four years later by a guy who "helped" him by holding the door to a bank's ATM lobby. Zola and the guy, who turned out to be a homeless man wanted for his involvement in a murder, got into a sort-of fistfight, after which the mugger blocked Zola's escape route and demanded money, any money. Instead of giving him the $40 he'd just removed from the machine, Zola gave him the ninety cents from his pocket. The man actually let him go.

When the police caught the man later that night, the mugger screamed obscenities and threats. Finally, the cops had to say: “Shut the fuck up. Do you think you’re scaring him? He’s from Detroit." Later, the mugger apologized:

“Are you really from Detroit,” he asked. I nodded. “Look man, nothing personal,” he said. “I was just trying to get paid.”

Wow. We knew people from Detroit were badass, but we had no idea muggers were actually afraid of them.

The story, which Zola published on Open Salon, goes on to include an incident with The Old Man (as Zola refers to his father), in which a quartet of gangbangers surrounded The Old Man in Manhattan, causing The Old Man to utter a very memorable response... read it here.

Via Open Salon.

Image via Hogvalley. Clip via Kentucky Fried Movie.

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Engagement Party Ends In Cheating, Beating, Arrest, No Makeup Sex

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:50:00 GMT

A wedding in Washington State is in jeopardy following a wild fight on the bride's front lawn...

A 31-year-old woman in Poulsbo, WA was happily hosting her long-awaited engagement party last week when her 12-year-old son from a previous relationship whispered, "Hey, your future husband is in the other room making out with one of your best friends."

The woman, who was not named in news reports, calmly asked guests, including her fiancee, to leave the premises. As Nina Van Pallandt deadpans in The Long Goodbye, "Well, it looks like the party has come to an abrupt end." Instead of letting her guy go, though, she followed him outside and proceeded to beat the living crap out of him:

When he left the house, they say, she tackled him football-style, punched him some more, threw his watch into the bushes and broke his glasses.

Responding to a 911 call from her son, deputies arrested the woman for investigation of fourth-degree assault.

We have a couple of questions: who are these people that make out with other people at their own engagement parties? Who are these people who make out with those getting engaged? We always thought the phrase "get your own damn man" was quaint, but in this case, it seems entirely natural. (Also, what's with the 12-year-old looking out for his mom's future, then calling the cops on her five seconds later? Kid, sometimes people deserve an ass whopping, laws be damned...)

Via the AP.

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Sloppy Seconds: Brad and Angelina and the French Brawl

Brian Fairbanks — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:41:00 GMT

Why is today the day that everyone is quitting on the B-list celebs? First, Kathy Griffin's assistant bailed on her, say she couldn't take it anymore. Now, Heather Mills' short-term and severely-suffering publicist has resigned after Mills called her "stupid."

Um, rejoice? Sean Combs is not getting married after all.

Nobody cares about the X-Files sequel?

Somebody named Daniel tried to sell two tickets to the Oscars on Craigslist, but Craig ratted him out. Craig... Daniel... Craig... Daniel... we wonder who the guilty party is?

A couple of "photographers" i.e. Peeping Toms with cameras and no sense of shame or privacy laws were beaten up by Brad and Angelina's bodyguards after being caught in full camouflage on the couple's French estate.

Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan are still together-- in fact, they may be bringing Red Sonja to movie theaters soon...

And best not to ask if a passenger in another car has any Grey Poupon: that person may be armed.