by Gustavo Martinez Contreras
LatinaLista
Posted on October 5, 2010
SCRANTON, PA — There are 21 new prospective jurors on the second day of trial of the of two Shenandoah, Pa., men charged with federal hate crime in the 2008 beating death an undocumented Mexican immigrant.
Yesterday, Judge Richard A. Caputo dismissed 21 of the initial 75 possible members of the jury.
The prosecution team, the two defending attorneys and the judge continued this morning their quest to find the 12 jurors and two alternate jurors for the trial.
Brandon J. Piekarsky (green shirt) and Derrick M. Donchak (blue shirt) leaving the William J. Nealon United States Courthouse in Scranton, Pa. on October 4, 2010, the first day of the federal trial against them for the fatal beating of Luis Eduardo RamÃrez Zavala
It is still unclear how many of those 14 jurors already have the approval of the three parties to sit during the trial of Derrick M. Donchak, 20, and Brandon J. Piekarsky, 18.
Both men face life in prison if found guilty of the charges stemming from the beating that took the life of Luis Eduardo RamÃrez Zavala in July 2008.
Just like yesterday, the judge addressed the new prospective jurors and asked them if they had any prior knowledge of the case.
On Monday, there were at least 46 possible jurors who said they had heard about it, while 15 out today’s 21 newcomers knew about the story already.
Individual questioning began at 9:43 a.m. and will continue throughout the day.
