Yesterday I reported on the indictment handed down by a federal grand jury to charge Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak with a federal Hate Crime. I have followed this case extensively throughout the trial and was a speaker at a huge rally in August 2008 in Shenandoah, so the indictment struck me as fabricated purely for political reasons. The trial is now over, the verdicts are in and the sentences have been handed down.

However, things have not ended with that as most trials do in these United States. The federal government has now bowed to political pressure in this case and in the process, I believe, are violating the constitutional rights of both Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak by committing Double Jeopardy.

The incident in July 2008 that resulted in the death of illegal alien Luis Ramirez occurred solely in the state of Pennsylvania. It did not cross state lines, nor venture into international spaces. In other words the whole of the trial, verdicts (as handed down by a jury of their peers), sentences and incarcerations should have occurred and ended in the state of Pennsylvania.

Being as such, the federal government should have absolutely no jurisdiction in this case whatsoever unless the rights of the accused were violated. The federal government simply will not stop there though and are intent on hanging these two out to dry and there is no other reason that could possibly be apparent other than political correctness and for political purposes.

In the United States it is a constitutional right to not be tried for the same crime twice. Under the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution it states this quite clearly. "[no person shall] be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb".

The clause was put in place so that the government could not harass individual citizens on a political whim by repeatedly charging them with a crime until they are eventually convicted. Without the clause, innocents could be retried again and again by unscrupulous prosecutors until they luckily found a jury that is sympathetic to their opinions of guilt. It is a protection for the individual against a tyrannical government and the corruption within it.

Accordingly, and more specifically, this is spelled out in the case of Ashe v. Swenson as cited:

Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436 (1970): "...when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit."

In the case against Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak "that issue" was whether the incident occurred solely because of the races of those involved and for no other reason. Both were charged with the Pennsylvania state charge of "ethnic intimidation" as per Title 18 - Section 2710 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statues. It is the Pennsylvania Hate Crimes charge and reads a follows:

(a) Offense defined.--A person commits the offense of ethnic intimidation if, with malicious intention toward the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity of another individual or group of individuals, he commits an offense under any other provision of this article or under Chapter 33 (relating to arson, criminal mischief and other property destruction) exclusive of section 3307 (relating to institutional vandalism) or under section 3503 (relating to criminal trespass) with respect to such individual or his or her property or with respect to one or more members of such group or to their property.

...

(c) Definition.--As used in this section "malicious intention" means the intention to commit any act, the commission of which is a necessary element of any offense referred to in subsection (a) motivated by hatred toward the actual or perceived race, color, religion or national origin, ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity of another individual or group of individuals.

In other words the charge of ethnic intimidation against Piekarsky and Donchak were whether they, "with malicious intention" attacked Ramirez solely based on his race. The jury found this to not be the case and both were acquitted of those charges.

Now the federal government will retry the two under virtually the same charges in a federal court and thus they are committing Double Jeopardy and violating the constitutional rights of Piekarsky and Donchak. This seems to be a common trend in this day and age to just totally ignore the constitution - and the rights it bestows on individuals - when it is politically convenient.

In this case the federal government is bowing to a small set of groups who have set themselves up in this country, most of which are based on race like MALDEF and the ADL, and proclaimed that they have a larger base of support than they truly do. Their main purpose on pressuring the federal government is to unjustly persecute the accused because of their race, not for justice. A handful of activist racists therefore are trying to force the federal government to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens in a court of law.

I would personally call this a hate crime made by these groups. It is a hate crime against Piekarsky and Donchak by race-based groups against the two solely because of their Caucasian race. These groups surely have "malicious intent" to destroy the two for their own selfish devices.

Are we as American Citizens to sit idly by while our judicial system and constitutional rights are picked apart by anti-American and racist groups looking for a boogie man for their posters? I think not!

I truly hope that the attorneys for Piekarsky and Donchak look into the Double Jeopardy clause. If they find it is applicable they can file what is known as a autrefois acquit (previously acquitted) preliminary plea and a preliminary decision will be made as to whether the plea is substantiated. If it is, the whole of the trial and charges at the federal level against the two will be dropped and the proceedings will be prevented from continuing.

I find the charges to be a farce and purely a political move and it really does leave a bad taste in my mouth, as it should also yours.

For more on the trial in which the two were acquitted of ethnic intimidation see the links below.

(Shenandoah Teen Trial Coverage: Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, My Verdict, Verdict is in!, Feds Indict Teens, Shenandoah Rally and Archive)