With Prayers and Support, Rubashkin Goes on Trial After Plea Bargain Fails

Plea deal government offered–first reported on FailedMessiah.com–was "too much," Chabad rabbi says.

The Plea Deal: Exclusive Details.

As you read the Forward's report posted below, please keep the following in mind:

1. The NCFJE Pidyon Shevuyim Fund raises money online. The fund's online donation set up does not allow one to choose wich criminal is aided by the funds being donated, and Chabad's Rubashkin defense fundraising is run through the NCFJE's Pidyon Shevuyim Fund. This means the tens of thousands of dollars (or more) raised for Rubashkin go into that fund without an earmark. And this means Rubashkin is the fund's only beneficiary.

Here are two screenshots. The first shows the online donation tool. The second shows the results for a Google site search for the word "Rubashkin" on the NCFJE website. Both can be clicked to enlarge:

 

2. As I exclusively reported two days ago, Rubashkin refused to cooperate with the government or admit guilt. That's why he was offered a bad plea arrangement.

3. In the issue of attorneys using the media to influence the case, the defense has been sternly warned, and Chabad's defense fund and Rubashkin family members are implicated in violating the judge's order in this regard, based on information FailedMessiah.com uncovered and exclusively reported.

With Prayers and Support, Rubashkin Goes on Trial After Plea Bargain Fails

By Nathaniel Popper • The Forward

The trial of former kosher slaughterhouse executive Sholom Rubashkin began in South Dakota on October 12, though only after a failed effort to reach a plea bargain, according to a close confidant of the defendant.

Rubashkin, the former CEO of the Agriprocessors slaughterhouse, was arrested last year, five months after his company was the subject of a massive immigration raid; most of the 163 counts that Rubashkin has been charged with relate to bank fraud and harboring undocumented immigrants.

Rabbi Shea Hecht, a leading Chabad Lubavitch rabbi who has provided support to Rubashkin’s defense, told the Forward that Rubashkin, 49, wanted to strike a plea bargain with the U.S. attorneys to avoid a jury trial.

“There were negotiations — an offer was put on the table,” Hecht said. “He had to refuse the offer because compared to what he did wrong, they were asking for too much. There was no way that a man should give the prime of his life away.”

Hecht would not discuss the terms that Rubashkin would have accepted — but he did say that Rubashkin was willing to serve a prison term in order to strike a bargain. Hecht met with Rubashkin in person when the court gave Rubashkin permission to visit New York for the Jewish high holidays. Rubashkin has otherwise been out on bail in Iowa. Hecht said that when Rubashkin visited Hecht’s New York office, he expressed a desire to deal with the charges.

“He said, ‘Listen, things were done wrong, but not what they are claiming,’” Hecht said. “He was very confident.”

The United States attorney’s office that is prosecuting Rubashkin would not say whether a plea bargain had been discussed.

A lawyer for Rubashkin, Guy Cook, also would not comment. Rubashkin has pleaded not guilty to all 163 counts.

Rubashkin and his family are members of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect, and the family has received hefty support from other members of the sect in advance of the trial. The day before the trial began, dozens [sic – should, I think, be hundreds – Shmarya] of children gathered at the last Chabad rebbe’s grave to pray “for a miraculous victory” for Rubashkin, according to a colorful poster for the event.

Earlier in the day, a bus load of Rubashkin’s supporters left from the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and drove overnight to Sioux Falls. A woman who answered the phone at the number printed on an advertisement for the bus ride would not provide her name. She said that the funding for the trip came from private sources.

“It was a grassroots effort to pack the courtroom with supporters — and hopefully we’ll pull it off,” she said. “We’ll be able to show the court that this man is being charged incorrectly — and he really is what they call a tzaddik,” or holy man.

On October 13, as the trial began, The Des Moines Register reported that the court facilities were inundated with young supporters of Rubashkin. Rubashkin’s nephew, Yossi, told the paper: “I’m extremely optimistic about the trial. That might not make sense to you. It’s just faith. Faith in God.”

Rubashkin has also received significant financial support from a committee formed by the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, a Chabad organization that helps imprisoned Chabadniks. Hecht is chairman of the NCFJE, and he said that the group had already given funding “in the six figures” to help Rubashkin’s case. Hecht’s brother, Sholem Ber Hecht, is leading the committee dedicated to Rubashkin’s case.

“The community sees it as an attack, number one, on kosher food, and number two, as an attack on religious Jews,” Shea Hecht said.

The judge overseeing the case, Linda Reade, moved the trial from Iowa to Sioux Falls, citing the extensive press coverage. Reade warned the lawyers on both sides not to speak to the press in South Dakota. Rubashkin’s lawyer, Cook, told the Forward that the move gives Rubashkin “a chance at a fair trial.”

Rubashkin will face two separate trials supervised by Reade — the first relating to the bank fraud charges and the second, beginning as soon as the first ends, covering the immigration charges. The first trial will revolve largely around financial transactions involving a multi-million dollar loan that Agriprocessors received. The U.S. attorney intends to prove that Rubashkin “instructed employees at Agriprocessors to create invoices and bills of lading for sales that never occurred,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors intend to call as witnesses several former company managers who pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for cooperating with the government.

In court documents, Rubashkin’s lawyers have argued that the government will have trouble proving that he intended to defraud the bank and the government. The lawyers are submitting evidence that shows Rubashkin’s civic involvement and charitable work, including pictures of him at worship and in the company of rabbis and Iowa politicians.

Exclusive: Rubashkin Negotiating Plea Deal

Comments

[AGRI-vated Angel]

[The community sees it as an attack, number one, on kosher food, and number two, as an attack on religious Jews . . .]

How delusional . . . CULT-like mentality.

The proceedings are NOT the result of Anti-Semitism; they ARE the result of illegal activities that transpired at the Agriprocessors facility under the directive & influence of SMR.

[effie]

That's the kneejerk response when they are accused of anything wrong no matter how much evidence there is against them. In the long run, it is going to backfire on them and result in higher sentences when convicted.

[effie]

In court documents, Rubashkin’s lawyers have argued that the government will have trouble proving that he intended to defraud the bank and the government.

I think evidence of cooking the books is very good proof of intent to defraud.

The lawyers are submitting evidence that shows Rubashkin’s civic involvement and charitable work, including pictures of him at worship and in the company of rabbis and Iowa politicians.

LOL

[munkatcher]

again failed messia... first to report on plea deal good work shmayra

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

Its not hard to tell who was answering the phone number in the ads - just Google 917-750-9813 and you get a few good hits.

[effie]

As I exclusively reported two days ago, Rubashkin refused to cooperate with the government or admit guilt. That's why he was offered a bad plea arrangement.

I would hope that a refusal to cooperate or admit guilt meant there was not a bad plea arrangement but no plea arrangement.

Defendants always think they have unlimited choices. They do not. They can take the plea bargain or they can plead straight up guilty on all the counts or they can go to trial. That's it.

My guess is that he will change his mind mid trial and try to get the same offer which has been withdrawn.

[Yosef ben Matityahu]

chabad has this misleading quote (in the tanya) that is a centerpiece in their belief system:
חסד לאמים חטאת
I think of this when they go en masse to the american law and pray to defeat the course of justice (what happened to dina demalkhuta? i wonder!).
Should be as brought out in Tehilim 109, that:
ז בהשפטו, יצא רשע; ותפלתו, תהיה לחטאה.
how apt, seems that נעים זמירות ישראל
had them in mind.

[Hometown Postville]

"The lawyers are submitting evidence...including pictures of him at worship and in the company of rabbis and Iowa politicians." Just find the right book and you could probably find pictures of many crime bosses attending religious ceremonies and posing with politicians. Why do you think the classic politician pose shows them kissing a baby?