Former Kosher Slaughterhouse Manager Claims Trial Court Participated in Immigration Raid Planning
Lawyers for Sholom Rubashkin, who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison for financial fraud discovered in connection with a kosher meatpacking plant in the aftermath of a 2008 raid to find illegal immigrants, have alleged trial-court improprieties in their request for a new trial. U.S. v. Rubashkin, No. 08-1324 (N.D. Iowa, filed August 5, 2010).
According to Rubashkin’s motion, the federal district court occupied temporary space near the plant so that the 300-plus undocumented workers arrested in the raid could be processed the following day. This raised the issue of Judge Linda Reade’s prior involvement with prosecutors. “Indeed, Chief District Judge Linda Reade stated in September 2008 in a written opinion that she engaged in purportedly limited ‘logistical cooperation’ with law-enforcement authorities in order to provide attorneys and interpreters for the arrested aliens and to conduct their trials in Waterloo.”
To the contrary, Rubashkin claims, eight months after the close of his criminal trial, “his counsel first discovered that Judge Reade had in fact participated in many ex parte pre-raid planning meetings with ICE officials and with members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Her meetings with law-enforcement officials began in October 2007—more than half a year before the raid—and, according to memoranda of ICE agents, the discussions covered operational and strategic topics that went far beyond the ‘logistical cooperation’ that Judge Reade has heretofore disclosed.”
Rubashkin calls for his motion to be referred to a disinterested judge for decision and seeks appropriate discovery and an evidentiary hearing if “the currently available evidence is deemed insufficient to warrant immediate relief.” Among the documents referred to in the motion are heavily redacted materials that Rubashikin contends raise serious questions about “Judge Reade’s impartiality in the criminal prosecution of the principal individual target of the raid.” He reiterates that the sentence imposed exceeded by two years what prosecutors sought.
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office was quoted as saying, in response to the motion, “any reference to (Rubashkin’s) guilt or innocence is noticeably missing. Interesting.” See Des Moines Register, August 5, 2010.
