Also read: immigration, civil rights, Latino, hate crimes, courts

Two Schuykill County, Pa., men who were acquitted of the fatal beating of 25-year-old Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez have been sentenced to a minimum of six- and seven-month prison terms, respectively, on simple assault and alcohol-related convictions, according to news reports.

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Brandon Piekarsky, 17, and Derrick Donchak, 19, were both found not guilty of third-degree murder earlier this year. This was despite mounting evidence that pointed to their guilt and the offenses being hate crimes. The convictions stem from a July 12, 2008 event in which Ramirez was brutally beaten to death as the attackers yelled racial epithets. Ramirez died two days after the beatings.

Gladys Limón, a staff attorney for the ethnic-activist group MALDEF, says Piekarsky and Donchak were slapped on the wrist for an absolutely brutal crime.

"Donchak and Piekarsky were not brought to justice," Limón said. "Life is irreplaceable, and the value of what the defendants took from Luis and his family is incalculable. The meager sentences handed to the defendants today leaves justice gasping for further redress. The failure to hold these defendants responsible for their atrocious crimes denies justice not just to the Ramirez family, but also to the entire community by failing to deter similar crimes in the future."

When the two men were found not guilty of the murder charges, it sparked outrage across the country--and caused a serious divide among the residents of this normally quiet Pennsylvania county. Some felt the two suspects were unfairly targeted, especially since the victim wasn't a United States citizen; others believed Piekarsky and Donchak literally got away with murder.

Sentencing Schuykill County Judge William Baldwin hinted that perhaps he agrees they got away with the more heinous charges, despite the family's victim impact statements in determining the defendants' sentences.

"It doesn't matter if Mr. Ramirez was Latino, white, Black or purple. This kind of violence in the streets of Schuykill County is not going to be tolerated," Baldwin said at the sentencing.

Want to voice your concern over the verdicts and sentencing? Click here to sign a petition urging Congress to pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Bill.

Meanwhile, MALDEF, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and other civil-rights groups are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to bring federal civil-rights charges against Piekarsky and Donchak.