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Postville, IA - Judge Refuses To Delay Trial for Rubashkin |
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All four men and the plant itself are scheduled for trial on Sept. 15 in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Judge Linda Reade denied a request by several lawyers to postpone the trial, in light of a seventh revised indictment filed against the men earlier this month.
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The slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors Inc., was the site of a major immigration raid in May 2008 that led to the arrest of 389 immigrant workers. Prosecutors later charged Rubashkin and several other plant managers.
Defense lawyers Jim Clarity and Guy Cook said they likely will ask Reade to reconsider her ruling.
Cook said the number of times prosecutors have revised their charges — seven — was unprecedented. He also said defense lawyers need more time to review new evidence disclosed by prosecutors.
"What are they doing here?" Cook said.
The 163-count indictment names Rubashkin, Agriprocessors Inc. and managers Zeev Levi, Brent Beebe and Hosam Amara as defendants. Their charges include immigrant harboring, and various forms of mail, wire and bank fraud.
Defense lawyers said the new indictment, which adds mail- and wire-fraud charges, gives them too little time to prepare for trial and could change their legal strategy.
Lawyers also took issue with the new information disclosed by prosecutors, including loan documents and two secretly recorded conversations with Amara, who is now a federal fugitive. Prosecutors said the failure to disclose the evidence right away was a mistake.
Prosecutors hinted in court papers that Amara, who spoke with a U.S. immigration agent in March, shared information that incriminates Rubashkin.
Defense lawyer Cook, who represents Rubashkin, said the interview contains information favorable to Rubashkin.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office did not immediately return a phone message.
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Read Comments (4) — Post Yours »
1
Jul 31, 2009 at 09:53 AM Anonymous Says:
so when does one plea bargain for a small sentence of a few years instead of the 1000 years of gulag they want to give?
2
Jul 31, 2009 at 03:26 PM Anonymous Says:
rubashkin should admit to his sins and get this over with already!
3
Jul 31, 2009 at 06:05 PM dear "friends" 1 & 2 Says:
You are "so" concerned for his welfare.
Let the man have his day in court and the opportunity to defend himself against the super-exaggerated case against him.
Remember how the claims started with drug labs, weapons, bombs, horrible abuse (meat hooks... torture chambers), etc., etc. For some reason, you dont hear anyone talking much about that anymore. Now it is down to "wire fraud" for allegedly misrepresenting assets (via a fax) to the bank when the company was in its government-triggered death-throes.
4
Aug 01, 2009 at 08:54 PM Anonymous Says:
if smr wants this night marwe to be over then why on earth is his lawyer constantly postponing it .
5
Aug 01, 2009 at 08:54 PM Anonymous Says:
if smr wants this night marwe to be over then why on earth is his lawyer constantly postponing it .
6
Aug 01, 2009 at 08:54 PM Anonymous Says:
if smr wants this night marwe to be over then why on earth is his lawyer constantly postponing it .