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Life in Prison for Selling Salmonella Tainted Peanut Butter?
AP’s Russ Bynum reports that Federal court officers are recommending what attorneys are calling an “unprecedented” sentence of life in prison for a peanut executive convicted in a salmonella-poisoning case. Former Peanut Corporation of American owner Stewart Parnell was convicted last fall of selling truckloads of peanut butter from his southwest Georgia plant to food processors even after they tested positive for Salmonella. Food containing the tainted peanuts was blamed for killing nine people and sickened more than 700. The U.S. Probation Office prepared the recommendation for Parnell’s upcoming sentencing. It was revealed in a court filing by prosecutors Wednesday.
As I said to the AP:
Bill Marler is a lawyer for victims sickened by peanut butter from Parnell’s plant. He called the recommended sentence “unprecedented.”
As Stewart’s lawyer said:
Parnell attorney Ken Hodges went further, calling it, “truly absurd.”
Well, it’s certainly not “truly absurd.”
After a 35-day trial, a federal jury on September 19, 2014, found Stewart Parnell, former owner and chief executive of Peanut Corporation of America, guilty of 71 counts of conspiracy, interstate shipments fraud, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce with intent to defraud or mislead, and introduction of misbranded food into interstate commerce with intent to defraud or mislead.
His brother, peanut broker, Michael Parnell, was convicted on 29 counts of a smaller but similar list of multiple convictions. Mary Wilkerson, the former quality manager at PCA’s peanut processing plant was convicted on one of two charges of obstruction of justice.
Two other PCA employees, former plant manager Samuel Lightsey and former operations manager Daniel Kilgore, were also charged but pleaded guilty before trial under agreements that saw them become government witnesses. They are be sentenced on October 1.
Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.
Source: http://www.marlerblog.com/legal-cases/life-in-prison-for-selling-salmonella-tainted-peanut-butter/
