Ex-cops charged in beating cover-up take stand
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) – A former Pennsylvania police chief and one of his subordinates, both charged with obstructing an FBI investigation into the fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant, took the stand in their own defense Monday and denied any attempt to protect the teenage assailants.
Federal prosecutors have charged former Shenandoah Chief Matthew Nestor, Lt. William Moyer and Patrolman Jason Hates with orchestrating a cover-up of the July 2008 beating of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez. Prosecutors say the former officers had close personal ties to white high school football players who fought with Ramirez on a Shenandoah street.
Nestor told jurors Monday that he referred the case to the Schuylkill County district attorney’s office as soon as he learned the identities of the assailants. He also said he ordered Hayes, who dated the mother of one of the suspects, to refrain from participating in the investigation.
He said that county detectives did “85 to 95 percent” of the work on the investigation, according to the Republican-Herald of Pottsville.
“Matt simply did his job,” Nestor’s attorney, Joseph Nahas, said Monday outside court. “We have nothing to hide here. Nothing.”
District Attorney James Goodman testified earlier in the trial that he removed Shenandoah police from the case because he was unhappy with their probe.
Nestor, Moyer and Hayes are charged with falsifying police reports and tampering with witnesses. Moyer is also charged with evidence tampering and lying to the FBI. They have pleaded not guilty.
Moyer told jurors Monday that Schuylkill County Chief Detective Anthony Carroll was in charge of the investigation.
“He told me everything to do,” he said.
Moyer also denied an account by one of the assailants, Colin Walsh, who testified earlier in the trial that Moyer showed up at his home a day after the fight and asked if he had “talked to the other guys” about their stories.
Walsh has pleaded guilty for his role in the attack and awaits sentencing.
Two other men who took part in the assault were convicted in October of a federal hate crime. Derrick Donchak, 20, and Brandon Piekarsky, 19, face a maximum of life in prison when they are sentenced next month.
The confrontation began late in the evening of July 12, 2008, when a group of drunken teenage athletes walking home from a block party came across Ramirez and his girlfriend in a park.
The teens hurled ethnic slurs at Ramirez, then fought with him. Piekarsky was accused of delivering a fatal kick to Ramirez’s head after he’d been knocked unconscious by Walsh.
Hayes is now engaged to Piekarsky’s mother.