Postville, IA – A federal judge has brushed aside contentions that a former Postville meatpacking executive’s indictment was tainted by anti-Semitism.
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Lawyers for Sholom Rubashkin had asked for a dismissal of numerous charges, including allegations that he defrauded a bank and helped illegal immigrants obtain false papers.
The defense lawyers claimed in court last month that witnesses before a federal grand jury made negative references to the fact that Rubashkin and other former Agriprocessors managers are Orthodox Jews.
The lawyers presented an expert on jury issues, who said those stereotypes could have helped lead to the indictment of Rubashkin and the other men.
But Chief District Judge Linda Reade ruled today there was no basis to the defense’s claim.
“It is the court’s firm conviction that there was no impropriety in these grand jury proceedings,” she wrote. “Simply put, Defendants have mischaracterized and taken out of context what are in truth innocuous statements and questions.”
The judge did not rule on defense requests that the men’s cases be separated and that the trials be moved out of state to avoid bias caused by extensive media coverage.
Agriprocessors has been the focus of intense controversy in Iowa and nationally since last May, when federal agents raided it and arrested nearly 400 workers on immigration charges. The plant is now in bankruptcy and is up for sale.
Defense lawyer Guy Cook said today he was unsure if Rubashkin would appeal Reade’s ruling on the grand-jury bias contention.
Prosecutors declined comment.
The trial is set for September, but it could be delayed.
Now that the antisemite card was thrown out of the deck, what is the next step for that brilliant defense team?
Sholom had better plead guilty, pay his fine and go on with his life. Isn’t that the way of a sucessful businessman? That is what Milhouse wants us to believe.
pay the fine..be as man enough with the antisemitisim crap..
The fact that it was so easily dismissed and with that language would scream out on appeal. Because where is there a bright line that objectively demarks discriminatory attitude?
Esepcially when it involves certain triggers that a particular group is sensitive to.
Reply to #7 , what are you saying that Rubashkin forced people to eat kosher and buy his products? Or he forced the workers to work for him? Or he forced the town to rebuild their economy? Madoff is an out and out ganuv, till the day he was caught he still took people’s money eventhough he had nothing to sell them but luft!
Rubashskin supplied a product and did it in a way that “WE” could afford it. How much are you paying for meat now????????? See the difference????? It was a small town, it didn’t supply enough workers and workers came, whether he went looking for them or not, he didn’t force anyone to work for him. They went to him and they were found at Tyson and at Swift and all the other meat packers as well. Interestingly enough, other than these immigrants no one else wants to work in the meat packing industry unless they are well padded through union benefits. Do you belong to a Union? Does your employer allow a union in his business? Can you relate at all to what I am saying?
What exactly do you want Shalom Mordechai to be remorseful for and to whom? To you?
I 217;m not poster 7 and I 217;m not speaking for him either but I didn 217;t read his post the way #8 did and think the reply 3* left is just emotional ranting without any substance. No one questions what positive effects Agri had on the kosher meat business, but don 217;t forget the motive was to make profit. Last I checked Agri is not a 501c3.
My understanding of post 7, and I agree with it, is that there are no reasonable comparisons between Madoff and SMR. Their crimes are different, but more importantly, their attitudes are as well.
Madoff went to the Feds and told them what he did  211; he didn 217;t wait to be discovered. And clearly with Friday 217;s news, he is working a deal that is rumored to include jail time.
SMR on the other hand, is indignant. The whole family is. Rather than work the system to his advantage, like Madoff, he is trying to pull the race card when there is none, and the conspiracy theorists abound when there is no conspiracy. And while SMR had every right to bring this motion, the reaction then was that playing the race card wouldn 217;t work and could backfire.
And while Madoff clearly wrought more damage than Agri, the way the two are working the system  211; I wouldn 217;t be surprised at all if Madoff does less time. And that would be a shame.
This obcession with Shalom Mordechai is beyond disgusting…he dug a hole for all yiddim by raising the antisemtism issue as a defense for his behavior and he lost. Please, reb Shalom Mordechai, stop digging us into a deeper hole.
what a relief it is not see anymore of those rubashkin/agri/arons products on my local town. we have totally eraticated that poison . ubeearta hara meekirbecha BH
Can you obsessive rubashkin haters just take a chill pill. A man is trying to fight for his life and all you can do is criticize every step. let him be.
Your comments are unbelievably ignorant. It is amazing how you keep ignoring the fact that the same immigration issue happened at Tyson and Swift yet no one there was arrested as Sholom Mordechai was.
In addition, chas v’shalom anyone of you or anyone you know should be caught up in any difficult court situation (look what is happening all over the world as the muslims infiltrate country after country and the antisemitsm is growing), the “race” card had to do with Jews having the right of return and if the Anti-defamation league even got involved on that one. But of course you are too hateful to see that, you must judge him according to your standards. But fine, let the judge throw it out, the next time a prosecuter wants to use that against a helegeh Rav like the “S” who is in the middle of an FBI investigation you better not be shouting “anti-semitism or racism” because I will call you on it!
I don’t know where you live, but my butcher bill went up, and when I was in Miami this winter, the meat there was so expensive I chose chicken. Yes life goes on without Rubashkin meat, but please be a mench. He did nothing to you, you don’t know him and obviously you don’t know his family or you wouldn’t be speaking like this. Yes of course everyone is in business to make a profit including you. How else would we take care of our families? But there is profit and there is Madoff. You can always make a 10, 20, 30 or 40 percent profit or more. It is a person’s choice how much profit they want to make on the backs of their customers. The cheshbon they made was to keep the prices as low as they could. If you choose not to believe that, it is your business. But this sinas chinam for another Jew who did absolutely nothing to harm you or anyone else is beyond comprehension.
Not having rachmonus on a Jew who sat in Jail for months away from his children and family without the right to bail because the prosecuters used the fact that “Israel has a right of return” law is just plain evil.
Please stop this Rubashin bashing already, there is enough anti-semitism promoted by the muslims. Zes shoin genuk. Maybe you could use your energy to speak about how the muslim influence has gotten England to remove all mention of the Holocaust from their school books.
#20 said…
“Can you clarify if anyone at Tyson paid cash to workers to falsify their records, or hired children? “
No such charges were ever brought against Tyson or Swift nor were any of the owners, managers or supervisors at those plants accused of such things. Nor have any of the raids that have taken place since found evidence of management involvement in such issues. The Rubashkin’s are in a class almost by themselves. There have been other firms – one in Texas, I believe – who were accused of supplying employees with false documents.
BTW, within two weeks of the raid last May. ads appeared in a Guatemalan newspaper for a meat plant in Postville Iowa looking for workers. There was only one meat plant in Postville!