Former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin is taking his appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in the latest chapter of the case.

Rubashkin, 51, argued in a lengthy filing Tuesday that he should be awarded a new trial because of Chief U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade’s role in planning a May 2008 immigration raid on the kosher meat packing plant in Postville.

He is serving is 27-year prison sentence at a federal penitentiary in Otisville, N.Y., and required to pay $27 million in restitution. In October, Reade denied Rubashkin new trial.

His attorneys argued that government documents show Reade, who presided over Rubashkin’s trial, had an active role in raid preparation and should have recused herself.

“This pre-raid association explains, we believe, why this case has lacked the balance and proportion that the federal judicial system expects federal district judges to provide in criminal trials,” court documents said.

The attorneys argued that Reade wasn’t able to act as a neutral party to prosecutors and defense attorneys alike because she worked too closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office on the raid preparation.

In previous court documents, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan said Reade was only told about a planned raid and wasn’t privy to where it’d take place, targets or other details.

Rubashkin’s appeal attorneys asked that if a new trial isn’t awarded that the case be transferred to a new judge to review the facts and hold an evidentiary hearing.

Rubashkin’s attorneys also repeated claims that Reade allowed prejudicial evidence of illegal immigration at the plant during the trial for more than 90 counts of financial fraud. A separate trial was to be held for the immigration charges.

They also argued that the sentence was part of a case that was “pursued by prosecutors with unprecedented aggressiveness,” which resulted a prison term much harsher than similar fraud convictions.

(Source: WCF Courier)