Meatingplace.com
By Lisa M. Keefe

The criminal trial of former Agriprocessors managers Sholom Rubashkin and Brent Beebe has been moved to U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls, S.D., according to court papers filed on Tuesday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where legal proceedings have been taking place since late last year.

Judge Linda Reade ruled in favor of the change in venue, Rubashkin’s third attempt to move the trial, despite having turned him down on two previous occasions. The difference was prospective jurors’ responses to a questionnaire, approved by lawyers on both sides, that aimed to determine the extent to which pretrial publicity may have affected the jury pool.

In her ruling, Judge Reade said, “The court finds that prejudice from pretrial publicity in this action is so extensive and corrupting that it may presume unfairness of a constitutional magnitude against Defendants Rubashkin and Agriprocessors.”

Ongoing since 2008

Rubashkin and other managers of the kosher slaughterhouse were indicted in November 2008 on various counts of immigration, wire, mail and bank fraud.

In Sioux Falls, the judge notes, the publicity about the trial has been minimal, and the population is demographically comparable to that in Cedar Rapids.

On Monday, the judge ruled in favor of a month-long delay in the start of the trial. It now is due to begin Oct. 13.

May 2008 ICE raid

The executives’ legal troubles stem from a May, 2008 raid by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the company’s Postville, Iowa facility. Most of the company’s employees were either arrested or never returned to work, and the company never regained its pre-raid production capacity. It was sold in August to SHF Industries Inc.