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May 5, 2009

All-White Jury Acquits Teens in Murder of Mexican Immigrant
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The Justice Department is investigating whether to prosecute two white
Pennsylvania teenagers on civil rights statutes for their role in the
fatal beating of Luis Ramirez, a Mexican immigrant in the town of
Shenandoah. On Friday, an all-white jury exonerated the two teenagers of
the most serious charges in connection with the fatal beating. The
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund condemned the jury’s
finding. Witnesses said six teenagers brutally beat Luis Ramirez last
year while yelling racial slurs. When a friend of Ramirez tried to stop
the beating, one of the teenagers said, “Tell your Mexican friends to
get out of town, or you’ll be laying next to him.”



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