Posted on 09/13/2010 6:30:15 AM PDT by Sarah
Rubashkin lawyers look into judge's work
Postville, Ia. - Sholom Rubashkin's legal team argued Wednesday that they still don't know how involved his trial judge was in the raid at his former Iowa slaughterhouse. Defense lawyers said they have yet to learn the extent of Judge Linda Reade's role in planning the raid at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville.
Rubashkin's lawyers say prosecutors have not disclosed the number of times they met with Reade, the exact discussion topics, or what the judge heard, said and saw. Such information could raise questions about her partiality in Rubashkin's financial fraud trial, the lawyers allege.
Rubashkin was convicted of 86 fraud-related charges for his leadership in a financial scandal at the plant. Wednesday's court filing was part of his request for a new trial.
By all available discovery, this judge has been guilty of...
wait for it...
promise this is worth the wait...
unbeleavable scandle...
THE JUDGE PROVIDED A VACATION SCHEDULE
don’t you see how damaging that is?
What?
Oops!
You commented without even doing the most basic of reading up on the topic!
This was just a little update, for those who’ve been following this story for the past few years.
Thank you for posting this important article. As a conservative, I understand that the rule of law is the critical glue that holds our system together, even in times of stress. Unfortunately, Judge Reade acted in a manifestly corrupt manner when she schemed with the prosecutors to develop a high-profile raid on the AgriProcessors plant, destroying a local economy long the way. Then she lied about it to conceal her role in the executive decision-making that underlie the decision to set up ad hoc courtrooms to try the illegals who worked there — and, of course, to conceal those actions that would have required her recusal from hearing the case of Sholom Rubashkin.
Ultimately, of course, after Rubashkin received from Judge Reade a sentence of 27 years — harsher even than the sentence sought by the prosecutor — the extent of her corrupt involvement in the prosecution has become known, and Rubashkin’s counsel have moved for a new trial.
As Yale Law School graduate and law professor Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has written, if the allegations about the corrupt Judge Reade are true, not only should she be impeached as a judge, but she should be disbarred as a lawyer.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. I hope that as more conservatives read articles about Judge Reade’s involvement with Rubashkin’s prosecutors, they will understand the gross miscarriage of justice that occured.
The man was convicted of white collar crimes and received a sentence worse than a murderer: 27 years. More than the prosecution asked for. Six former United States Attorney Generals have lambasted Reade for her sentencing. Now, after the trial, it turns out that she was signigicantly involved in preparations for the ICE raid on the Agriprocessor plant that led to Rubashkin's charges and conviction. One of the emails obtained by FOIA request included reference to the judge participating in a meeting where "the parties discussed an overview of charging strategies, numbers of anticipated arrests and prosecutions, logistics, movement of detainees and other issues related to the CVJ investigation and operation."
The judge's involvement was far deeper than "providing her vacation schedule." It doesn't take any genius to recognize that when a judge takes that significant a role in the preparation and execution of an operation, she adopts it as her own project and becomes invested in it's ultimate success.
Without excusing what he did, let's put things in perspective: Rubashkin was ultimately convicted of giving false economic data to his credit line lender so they would make larger advances against a pre-approved lending limit. In other words, he was not stealing the money, but getting a larger amount of funding than he was entitled to at the time. Likewise, not even the very zealous prosecutors in the case ever accused him of enriching himself with the money. Before the government effectively shut down the plant and refused to allow it to be reopened during the pendency of the case with a legal workforce, Rubashkin had remained current on all payments under the loan.
Again, he should not be excused. But when you look at the sentence and you think about the actual underlying crimes, it just does not add up. A man's life and freedom hang in the balance. Not funny.
I find it hard to cry for Sholom Rubashkin. Frankly, he should be in jail. However, it has become increasingly clear that there was malfeasance and fraud by the judge. Sholom Rubashkin should get a new fair trial.
Concerning his prison sentence...I get so defensive, but even his own lawyer does think that he should do some prison time.
(I get all wound up with the fact that he never would have tried to use some false documents to qualify for the size loan he did, were he not to have been pushed into an increasingly impossible position by the endless attacks...PETA, labor unions, the Feds...) I’ve read all there is to read, and it almost seems like a set-up.
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