Sat, Jun 6, 2009 PB Online
Nigel Duara
Associated Press
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A former manager at a northeast Iowa kosher slaughterhouse asked this week that his trial be moved after the recent anniversary of an immigration raid at the plant renewed media interest in the case.
Former Agriprocessors manager Sholom Rubashkin filed a motion Tuesday requesting that his trial be moved to St. Paul or Chicago because he can't get a fair trial in Iowa.
"We're asking for the court to presume prejudice," said Rubashkin's attorney, Guy Cook. "This is an exceptional case in that it's important a jury be picked that gives life to the presumption of innocence that he's entitled to."
Bob Teig, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Cedar Rapids, declined to comment on the motion.
The trial is now set to begin Sept. 8 in Cedar Rapids.
Rubashkin, his company Agriprocessors, Inc., and three other former managers at the plant face a 142-count indictment, including 70 counts of harboring and aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented workers for profit. The other counts relate to document fraud, bank fraud and willful violation of an order of the secretary of agriculture.
In addition to the federal charges against Rubashkin, Agriprocessors and top managers have been accused of violating state and federal laws dealing with child labor, wage requirements and safety rules. The company filed for bankruptcy protection and has been appointed a third-party overseer.
Previous request
It's the second time Rubashkin has sought a change of venue. In March, a federal judge denied the request.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Linda Reade said in March that Rubashkin and his co-defendants Brent Beebe, Hosam Amara and Zeev Levi, as well as Agriprocessors, Inc., are able to get a fair trial in Iowa.
Reade said at the time that there was a substantial gap between the bad press in the case and the trial scheduled for September, but she called some media reports "troubling" and acknowledged that pretrial publicity could intensify as the trial approaches.
Rubashkin's latest motion argues that, among other events, the anniversary of the May 12, 2008, immigration raid brought "extensive, inflammatory, and ongoing adverse pre-trial publicity" that taints the potential jury pool.
Media coverage
"The run up to the anniversary and the anniversary itself generated a multitude of news reports and editorials," Cook wrote in the motion. "Additionally, the anniversary was marked by speeches, prayers, and testimonials in Postville, Iowa. The activities surrounding the one year anniversary set off another significant round of inflammatory pre-trial publicity."
Cook also cited comments from Michael Tramontina, director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, about Agriprocessors' bankruptcy. He said the company "is a potentially very profitable company if operated like a real business. It does not have to be operated the way it was operated by the previous owners."
Cook noted other comments made by state and federal officials about the raid, bankruptcy and guilty pleas by former Agriprocessors employees.
"These guilty pleas and the subsequent publicity, even when merely reporting the facts of these pleas, has continued to generate strong feelings of an inflammatory nature regarding defendant Rubashkin's case," Cook wrote in the motion.
Cook commissioned a media study by West Des Moines strategic communication consultant Jim Hibbs, who found "(t)he Postville case has created messages of victims and villains in emotionally driven headlines that bombard the audience time and time again."
"The wealth of media coverage and commentary places Sholom Rubashkin squarely in the 'villain' category," Hibbs wrote. "The audience today -- potential jurors -- are bombarded by these electronic bits of information day after day and update after update."
Hibbs also criticized the ability of readers to comment on online stories, saying they "make arguments void of fact, utilize name calling and gain credibility under the banner of a respectable newspaper."
http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=2&a=402907
