Former Agriprocessors manager convicted of bank fraud in 2009 filed a brief in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday, asking for a new trial based prosecutorial misconduct and a federal judge improperly presiding over on the trial.
Former Agriprocessors manager bases appeal on prosecutorial misconduct, improper conduct of federal judge
Trish Mehaffey • SourceMedia Group News
Former Agriprocessors manager convicted of bank fraud in 2009 filed a brief in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday, asking for a new trial based prosecutorial misconduct and a federal judge improperly presiding over on the trial.
Sholom Rubashkin, 51, of Postville, was convicted in November 2009 by a jury of 86 counts of bank fraud, bank, mail and wire fraud, money laundering and failure to pay livestock providers in a timely manner. The charges stem from the May 2008 immigration raid at the former Postville meatpacking plant where more than 400 illegal workers were arrested.
Rubashkin was sentenced in 2010 to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $26 million.
The brief filed Monday asks the court for oral argument concerning legal issues of fairness regarding Rubashkin’s trial and sentence and the pre-raid conduct of U.S. District Chief Judge Linda Reade and the prosecutors and its effect on the trial.
Rubashkin claims Reade unlawfully presided over his trial and should have recused herself. Reade was involved in the planning of the 2008 raid, Rubashkin’s attorneys claimed discovered after they acquired documents through a Freedom of Information Act request. They say the documents showed federal agents were in contact with Reade regarding the raid.
The government filed a brief in the district court appeal stating Reade was given certain information about the planning of the raid because the court had to be informed given the number of arrests and court proceedings that would follow.
Here is the appeal brief as a PDF document: