Former Agriprocessors vice president Sholom Rubashkin filed a motion today in U.S. District Court for an acquittal on the 86 counts he was convicted of last week, and is also asking for a new trial on those charges.
The motion contends there was insufficient evidence to sustain the conviction on the bank fraud, money laundering and other charges. Reasons cited in the brief include:
* Evidence presented in trial in regards to the non payment of livestock didn’t prove Rubashkin was responsible for the checks issued to cattle suppliers.
* The government didn’t prove the alleged laundering involved “proceeds” as required for a conviction. Rubashkin didn’t retain any profits, it all went to expenses, according to the motion.
* Merging the money laundering counts as part of the underlying frauds and false statements to the bank doesn’t meet the legal criteria for merging those counts.
* The conviction on more than one count of bank fraud violates Rubashkin’s right against double jeopardy for multiple convictions for the same act.
Rubashkin, 50, former vice president of Agriprocessors, was convicted by a Sioux Falls, S.D., jury of 86 counts of bank, wire and mail fraud, non payment of livestock, making false statements to a bank and money laundering. The charges stem from the May 2008 immigration raid at the Postville meatpacking plant.
(Source: Gazette Online)
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12 Responses
Baruch Hashem I’m not a lawyer, but isn’t double jeopardy as defined in the encyclopedia being tried for a crime after an acquittal?
hatzlacha rabbah & good shabbos
Double Jeopardy is simply being tried for the same crime twice.
Hashem should give him hatzlacha. Now that they have dropped the immigration charges, all he needs to do is have the convictions – which seem improper – overturned.
locknload:
This was NOT aquittal. It is just as BMG calls it, “Put in the Freezer”. So, yes they can tryu him for the first time at their will.
#1 – We know you are not. Double jeopardy is a procedural defense that forbids a defendant from being tried twice for the same crime on the same set of facts. It has nothing to do with acqittal.
Since the initial immigration raid charges were all dropped, isn’t it true that all the financial troubles came about as a result of that, and this should be another reason to drop all these charges related to the financial matters?
There is only one thing that all of you need to know, is that his name is Sholom Mordechai ben Rivka. Remember it every time you daven and stop waisting time speculating.
To commenter 10, “rebshalom”:
You say “now he is a convicted felon”, “if he appeals .. successfully, then he will have been exonerated”, “that he is a Frum Yid is totally irrelevant”.
Where is your sense of justice? Where is your sense of right and wrong? Are you not capable of independent thought? And where is your feeling of Jewish brotherhood?
Your sense of justice – the most basic of human obligations – you happily abdicate to Career Prosecutors, Career Judges, and jury’s. You rely on their methods and judgments instead of your own, and choose to ignore the countless convictions that have been overturned because of “errors” and misrepresentations or straight out lies by interested Career Prosecutors and Career Judges. Let me point out that career prosecutors are promoted based on getting convictions, not serving justice, and career Federal Judges like Ms. Reade are appointed and promoted by politicians based on their (merits and) political views.
Your sense of right and wrong – that gut feeling that guides moral people – you silence, and instead let our legal system tell you what is right and wrong. And you are proud of ignoring that gut feeling, considering yourself as having risen above “subjective human sentiment”, instead being guided by the enlightened principal of the rule of law.
Now let me state clearly. I am the most ardent supporter of our legal system, for it is the most perfect and just system ever devised by a society. But not more. It is not perfect. It is not always just. And it is certainly not immune from manipulation by powerful interest groups. Let me remind you that slavery was condoned by our legal system for nearly a hundred years and segregation for even longer.
Since you don’t ask of yourself, let me ask you for you. Whom has this man hurt? What unforgivable crime has he committed? The bank that he was convicted of defrauding was paid back their entire loan, making upwards of 12 million dollars profit in the process.
Who will not be able to see their loved one as a result of his actions? Who lost their life savings as a result of his actions? Who was harmed in any tangible way whatsoever?
So you say he broke the law and needs to be punished. If he did break the law, I agree with you. But put him away for life? never to see his wife and children again? his wife and TEN children never to see him again? and not because he harmed someone physically, emotionally or financially but because he “is a convicted felon”? Is this what the bill of rights considers to be fair and fitting punishment?
There were many others who silenced their sense of right and wrong, deferring instead to the letter of the law. They all acted within the law, even if some of them were guards in extermination camps.
And finally, your feeling of Jewish brotherhood. This you yield togood civil convictions. Jewish Brotherhood is an absolute truth, not something manufactured by history and circumstance and agreed upon by man. Jewish Brotherhood is kind and has survived the test of time. Good civil convictions on their own lack substance, are cold, and are subjective. That is why throughout history they have often time been cruel and debased. You have made a fools choice.
“rebshalom”, your title is empty and you are not worthy of your name.
#10 – Just because he was convicted by the US legal system doesn’t mean there’s no chiyuv to be dan l’kav zchus.
rebshalom;
So you equate him with Madoff?
He was convicted by whom? A jury of his peers or a jury of antisemites who responded to Amalek’s daughter, namely “judge linda” (lower case intended).
For a judge to to decide that additional defense witnesses aren’t relevant puts her in a league all her own! Let’s see what happens to the khalid sheikh mohammed Rasha! I bet he’ll be let free to roam the streets! And there may even be a ticker tape parade for him attended by the media led by the Grand Marshal… (I’ll let you fill in the blank!)
#13 – Believe it or not, not everyone who does something you don’t agree with is an anti-semite. Do you have any proof to this claim? And why do you think that “khalid sheikh mohammed Rasha” will be “let free to roam the streets!” when Obama himself said he expects him to be put to death?