Agriprocessors Child Labor Trial
More details emerge on the postponement, change of venue and exactly who will stand trial and with whom.
Iowa: Judge delays Agriprocessors' child labor trial
Owners and former managers are granted a change of venue
DES MOINES (AP) -- The owner and former managers of an embattled northeast Iowa kosher slaughterhouse who are facing thousands of state child labor charges were granted a delay in trial and a change of venue during a court hearing Wednesday in Waterloo.
Judge Nathan Callahan continued the trial involving Agriprocessors Inc. of Postville and its owner and former leaders until Aug. 4. Trial had been scheduled for April 20.
The judge also ordered the trial to be moved about 70 miles from Allamakee County to Black Hawk County.
Attorneys for some of the defendants responded that the new location also is not acceptable. They will be given another chance, likely on July 14, to submit jury questionnaires and argue again for a different location.
Callahan will rule later on other arguments, including motions to dismiss.
Last September, the Iowa attorney general's office filed more than 9,000 charges -- one for each day a particular violation is alleged for each worker -- against the plant, its owners and former managers. Prosecutors accuse them of hiring minors and in some cases of having children younger than 16 handle dangerous equipment.
The defendants include the company itself; plant owner Abraham Aaron Rubashkin; his son and former vice president Sholom Rubashkin; human resources manager Elizabeth Billmeyer; and human resources employees Laura Althouse and Karina Freund. In January, nearly 1,000 new charges were added against Jeffrey Heasley, a beef production supervisor.
The Iowa attorney general's office confirmed late Wednesday that Althouse and Heasley were granted separate trials, but dates weren't immediately available.
The Agriprocessors plant was the site of a massive immigration raid last May that resulted in the arrest of 389 workers, many of them Guatemalan and Mexican nationals who served jail time and then were deported. It was one of the largest single-site raids in U.S. history.
Before the raid, Agriprocessors was the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant and employed about 1,000 people. The company later filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ceased production. A buyer is currently being sought through auction and some production lines have reopened.
Following the raid, a slew of federal and state charges were filed against owners and managers at the plant ranging from conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants to bank fraud. Some lower-level employees have pleaded guilty to charges, but most of the cases continue to work their way through the court system.
The state alleges five types of violations of its child labor laws against the company and its owners and managers that include employing a child younger than 18 in a meatpacking plant; employing a child younger than 18 in an occupation that exposes the child to dangerous or poisonous chemicals; employing a child younger than 16 who operated power machinery; employing a child younger than 16 who worked during prohibited hours or more hours in a day than permitted by law; and employing a child younger than 16 who worked more days in a week than permitted by law.
Owners and former managers are granted a change of venue
DES MOINES (AP) -- The owner and former managers of an embattled northeast Iowa kosher slaughterhouse who are facing thousands of state child labor charges were granted a delay in trial and a change of venue during a court hearing Wednesday in Waterloo.
Judge Nathan Callahan continued the trial involving Agriprocessors Inc. of Postville and its owner and former leaders until Aug. 4. Trial had been scheduled for April 20.
The judge also ordered the trial to be moved about 70 miles from Allamakee County to Black Hawk County.
Attorneys for some of the defendants responded that the new location also is not acceptable. They will be given another chance, likely on July 14, to submit jury questionnaires and argue again for a different location.
Callahan will rule later on other arguments, including motions to dismiss.
Last September, the Iowa attorney general's office filed more than 9,000 charges -- one for each day a particular violation is alleged for each worker -- against the plant, its owners and former managers. Prosecutors accuse them of hiring minors and in some cases of having children younger than 16 handle dangerous equipment.
The defendants include the company itself; plant owner Abraham Aaron Rubashkin; his son and former vice president Sholom Rubashkin; human resources manager Elizabeth Billmeyer; and human resources employees Laura Althouse and Karina Freund. In January, nearly 1,000 new charges were added against Jeffrey Heasley, a beef production supervisor.
The Iowa attorney general's office confirmed late Wednesday that Althouse and Heasley were granted separate trials, but dates weren't immediately available.
The Agriprocessors plant was the site of a massive immigration raid last May that resulted in the arrest of 389 workers, many of them Guatemalan and Mexican nationals who served jail time and then were deported. It was one of the largest single-site raids in U.S. history.
Before the raid, Agriprocessors was the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant and employed about 1,000 people. The company later filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ceased production. A buyer is currently being sought through auction and some production lines have reopened.
Following the raid, a slew of federal and state charges were filed against owners and managers at the plant ranging from conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants to bank fraud. Some lower-level employees have pleaded guilty to charges, but most of the cases continue to work their way through the court system.
The state alleges five types of violations of its child labor laws against the company and its owners and managers that include employing a child younger than 18 in a meatpacking plant; employing a child younger than 18 in an occupation that exposes the child to dangerous or poisonous chemicals; employing a child younger than 16 who operated power machinery; employing a child younger than 16 who worked during prohibited hours or more hours in a day than permitted by law; and employing a child younger than 16 who worked more days in a week than permitted by law.
"THE CHILDREN"
The conditions were terrible and so was the
pay,
So the Rabbi's worked children long hours
every day.
But tables were turned and the boss was
arrested,
Sitting in jail he loudly protested.
I'm a Rabbi he said, the Torah I study each day,
The children aren't Jews take my word it's OK.
Posted by: justice seeker | April 02, 2009 at 05:15 PM
Justice delayed, is justice denied.
Posted by: state of disgust | April 03, 2009 at 09:30 AM