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No Minors Seen At Agriprocessors, Rubashkin Witnesses Say

The defense called its first full day of witnesses on Wednesday. Several testified they never observed underage workers during unannounced visits to the plant, while others said they had difficulty determining the laborers' ages by sight.

Rubashkin Trial Day 9 Afternoon Summary

Aaron Goldsmith briefly sobbed and wiped his eyes when he told of efforts by Jewish journalists and other opponents of Agriprocessors to smear the Rubashkin family name. He said the critics, which included union organizers, had no long-term interest in the health of the town or the company.

Rubashkin Trial Day 9 Morning Summary: Defense Begins

An attorney who represented Agriprocessors said the kosher slaughterhouse did not knowingly hire minors, and the state department of labor refused to provide the names of underage workers it had discovered before a May 12, 2008 immigration raid.

Underage Employee Says Agriprocessors Told Him To Lie About His Age

Elmer Lopez Marroquin said the employee, Karina Freund, instructed him to lie to state inspectors and say he was an adult. Instead, he told the truth.

Rubashkin Trial: Attorneys Battle Over Motion To Dismiss Case

“The case is underwhelming and ill-conceived and should be put to a stop right now,” said defense attorney Mark Weinhardt. “The evidence in this case is that Mr. Rubashkin did absolutely nothing.”

Rubashkin Trial Day 8: The Prosecution Rests

The state has rested its case, and the jury is excused until tomorrow morning. The attorneys will be back at 1:30 p.m., most likely to ask for a directed verdict – i.e., the defense will ask for all charges to be dismissed.

Agriprocessors Underage Workers Hidden From State Inspectors

Brian Griffith said he hid the workers under orders from his supervisor, a forceful, intimidating man named Jeff Heasley. Heasley faces child labor charges in a separate trial.

Former Supervisor Testifies He Was Told To Hide Underage Workers From State

A former supervisor at a kosher slaughterhouse raided by federal agents testified Monday that when child labor inspectors toured the facility, he took two workers he thought were underage and hid them in the basement. Griffith said his boss told him to hide the underage workers.

Rubashkin Trial Day 7 Afternoon Summary

The prosecution said it would call its final witnesses tomorrow morning. Defense will begin making its case Wednesday morning.

Rubashkin Trial Day 7 Morning Summary

Knife injuries, machinery injuries, more minors testify.

Rubashkin Trial Day 6 Summary

When state labor investigators came to Agriprocessors a month before the immigration raid, Rucal testified that supervisors told her not to talk to them or “we would be fired.”

Rubashkin Trial Resumes This Afternoon

Trial postponed this morning because Rubashkin was still hospitalized.

Rubashkin Trial Delayed Until Friday

Sholom Rubashkin’s child labor trial will resume on Friday, because of health reasons and a Jewish holiday.

No Rubashkin Trial Today

Sholom Rubashkin hospitalized over the weekend.

Rubashkin Hospitalized

Ex-Agriprocessors manager taken to hospital.

Former Agriprocessors Worker: ‘Their Faces Were Like Children’

A woman who used to work in Agriprocessors as a teenager told jurors it was obvious that other youths were working at the plant in 2007 and 2008. Former supervisor also confirms children worked at Agriprocessors.

Rubashkin Trial Day 5: Afternoon Summary

Floriberta Valenzo Morales said Agriprocessors rejected her application because they did not believe she was 18. The kosher slaughterhouse only hired her when her mother produced a birth certificate that matched her false documents.

Rubashkin Trial Day 5: Morning Summary

Elizandro Ismael Gomez Lopez, 17, recounted getting lost and wandering the desert for a week at the Mexico-U.S. border. He said he survived by drinking “the water that the animals drank.” When he arrived in Postville, he said he paid $500 a month to live in a house owned by a rabbi.

Child Workers' Stories Cry Out For Immigration Reform

A former supervisor at the plant told about children working 100 hours a week at the slaughterhouse and how they needed a break. Rubashkin's response, the supervisor said, was to smile and do nothing.

Rubashkin Trial: Judge Sees Witness Credibility Problem

"When you've got somebody who gets on the stand and says, 'I don't remember talking to anybody, ever,' it's a credibility problem if they've given a bunch of interviews."

Rubashkin Trial Day 4: Afternoon Summary

“When someone gets on the stand and says I don’t remember giving any interviews with anyone ever, obviously there’s some credibility issues.”

14-Year-Old Dragged 100 Lb Barrels Of Rejected Turkeys Through Agriprocessors To The Garbage

Henry Lopez Calel said he was the hope of his family.

Rubashkin Trial Day 4: Morning Summary

Calel hauled barrels of rotten turkeys hundreds of feet down steps and onto a waste pile outside the plant. He remembered them being very heavy for his 14-year-old body. “The barrels would have 12 turkeys or more. So I think they were 100 pounds or more.”

Rubashkin Attorneys Attack Credibility Of Agriprocessors Former Child Workers

Sholom Rubashkin's defense team continued to question the motivation of witnesses who received visas in exchange for testimony that helps in the prosecution of the former Agriprocessors executive.

Rubashkin Trial Day 3: Afternoon Summary

Judge Callahan said he will excuse the jury on Wednesday and Thursday next week to accomodate the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

Rubashkin Trial Day 3: Morning Summary

Arguello Lopez, a Guatemalan, started working at the kosher slaughterhouse at 14. She cut chicken breasts with a short, curved knife and shears. She also removed the innards of the birds.

Rubashkin Supervisor Received Death Threats

Supervisor who told Rubashkin about child workers received death threats as a result, supervisor claims.

Rubashkin Child Labor Trial Day 2: Afternoon Summary

Defense attorney F. Montgomery Brown said he intends to ask for time off next week because the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. He said will present more details on the holiday tomorrow. “Your honor, I don’t have all my Jewish holiday ducks in a row,” he said.

Rubashkin Knew Children Worked At Agriprocessors

A former Agriprocessors supervisor said under oath that he told managers and executive Sholom Rubashkin that there were minors working at the company Postville meatpacking plant.

Rubashkin Child Labor Trial: Day 2 Morning Summary

A former Agriprocessors supervisor told Sholom Rubashkin several years ago that children worked up to 100 hours a week at the kosher slaughterhouse, according to witness testimony this morning.

Rubashkin Trial Day 1: Child Workers Testify, Dangerous Working Conditions Exposed

Minors who worked in her area were given the day off when people from the government were at the plant, a child worker told the court Monday.

PBS Frontline/World To Show Impact Of Agriprocessors Immigration Raid Tomorrow Night

PBS Frontline/World will broadcast a 15-minute version of the documentary "In the Shadow of the Raid", by directors Greg Brosnan and Jennifer Szymaszek, nationwide on its Tuesday night, May 11 show.

Rubashkin Attorney Accuses Catholic Church Of Suborning Perjury To Smear Rubashkin

“As much as it pains me to say it, this Catholic church was a longterm adversary of Agriprocessors,” said Rubashkin attorney F. Montgomery Brown.

Prosecution Details Ugly Conditions In Agriprocessors' Plant

State prosecutors offered grizzly details of children sometimes coming to the plant after hearing about the jobs from other students at school. They worked up to 16-hour days, sometimes the in the middle of the night, and always six days a week. Their oversized protective frocks caught on conveyer belts, dragging them down the kill line.

Rubashkin Trial Live Blog

[Pinned Post–Automatically Updated]

Get the news live as it happens, right here. 

Rubashkin Trial Begins

Rubashkin attorneys move to limit charges.

Video: Rubashkin Attorney Speaks At Agudath Israel Of America Annual Dinner

Guy R. Cook stumps for Rubashkin.

Thousands Attend Rubashkin Rally in Kiryas Yoel

The gathering in the Satmar village Kiryas Yoel was addressed by Rabbi Menachem Meir Weissmandel, rabbi of Nitra in Monsey. Getzel Rubashkin, a son of Reb Sholom Mordechai, and Rabbi Chaim Berger also spoke.

Video: Sheriff Says Rubashkin's Religious Needs Are "Wants," Explains Why He Refused To Meet Them

Rubashkin obstinate but Black Hawk County sheriff won't budge.

Saint Rubashkin

"Rubashkin's  kindness  went  beyond  the  Jews. It  was   legendary. He  was  as  generous  to the  non- Jews of Postville  as  he  was  to  the  Jews."

In Defense Of Sholom Rubashkin

A non-Jewish self-proclaimed animal rights activist defends Sholom Rubashkin.

Rubashkin Case Profiled In Israeli Press

As sentencing rapidly approaches, Agriprocessors' Sholom Rubashkin still has hope.

Letter from Washington Heights: RCA's Ethical Guidelines "Too Little, Too Late"

Over the past four years, the reputation of the kosher food industry — and of Orthodoxy itself — has been badly tarnished by revelations about mistreatment of workers and animals and violations of law at Agriprocessors.

Agriprocessors Child Labor Trial Set For May

Sholom Rubashkin, his father Aaron, and several Agriprocessors employees face more than 9,000 counts.

Rubashkin's Attorney: Feds Used "Duplicitous, Dishonest” Tactics To Convict Rubashkin

Rubashkin testified that while he knew about the inflated invoices, he did not generate them. They were part of a system put into place before his tenure as manager of the company began.

Former Agriprocessors Workers Feel Misused By Company, Government, Rubashkin

“We were all punished, and charges are dismissed against the one who broke all the laws and caused all the suffering.”

Rubashkin Asks Court To Dismiss Child Labor Charges

Rubashkin's attorneys claim Division of Labor officials ignored Agriprocessors' requests to identify the workers suspected of being minors

Chabad Kids Write Letters To Rubashkin

"Hope you get your money & company back."

Underage Girl Alleges Sexual Harassment At Agriprocessors

Supervisors at the now-defunct Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville sexually harassed an underage girl who worked at the meat processing plant and had intercourse with other female employees in a storage room, according to state court papers.

Letter from Miami: Postville Raid A Waste

The exemplary message to employers: It's OK to abuse human beings, so long as you don't lie to the bank.