Verdict Split in Hate Crime Coverup Involving Three Pennsylvania Police Officers
Three former Pennsylvania police officers who were accused of conspiring to cover up the beating death of a Mexican immigrant two years ago were cleared on Thursday of the most serious charges against them. But the verdict did not absolve them of any wrongdoing.
The officers were accused of altering official statements of witnesses, concealing evidence and helping two high school boys and their families create a story to hide the racial nature of the attack and shift a measure of blame in the beating death. Former Shenandoah police chief Matthew Nestor and two other officers, William Moyer and Jason Hayes, were found not guilty on Thursday of conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation.
However, Moyer, described by his defense attorney as the “Barney Fife of Shenandoah,” was found guilty of lying to the FBI, and Nestor was found guilty of falsifying police reports. Hayes, whose fiancé is the mother of one of the men involved in the death of Luis Ramirez in July of 2008, was acquitted of both charges against him.