CITIZENS' PETITION TO THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF IOWA 

TO: UNITED STATES ATTORNEY STEPHANIE ROSE

FROM: CONCERNED CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SUBJECT: UNITED STATES v. SHOLOM RUBASHKIN 

Dear Ms. Rose:

      As the recently appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, it is your current  responsibility to ensure that criminal justice in your district meets the United States Department of Justice's Mission Statement that demands "Equal and Fair Administration of Justice Under the Law." We know that you have been, for many years, an Assistant United States Attorney in the same important Office and have worked collegially with prosecutors who are responsible for the case that was brought against Sholom Rubashkin. Nonetheless, with your current position and title comes the difficult duty of evaluating the methods and means used by attorneys in your office and judging, independently from your past associations with them, whether Mr. Rubashkin has been afforded the equal justice to which he is entitled by the Constitution and Laws of the United States.

      
SHOLOM RUBASHKIN HAS BEEN TREATED HARSHLY AND VINDICTIVELY IN A PROSECUTION THAT IS LIKELY TO GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS A SHAMEFUL PERMANENT STAIN ON AMERICAN JUSTICE.

      
YOU HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TODAY TO CORRECT THE COURSE THAT THIS CASE HAS TAKEN BY DIRECTING THAT MR. RUBASHKIN BE TREATED NO DIFFERENTLY IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF IOWA THAN SIMILAR DEFENDANTS HAVE BEEN TREATED IN OTHER FEDERAL JURISDICTIONS.

  
    Here is the Bill of Particulars that proves that overzealous and selectively harsh measures have been taken against Sholom Rubashkin:

1. The May 2008 ICE Raid Was Unnecessary, Unwise, and Singularly Destructive - Attorneys in your Office summarily rejected the request made orally and in writing several days before the raid by Robert W. Kent, Esq., of Baker & McKenzie, to secure the arrest of illegal aliens employed at Agriprocessors by a cooperative effort that would not wreak the destruction of a raid. Mr. Kent noted that he had achieved this result with federal prosecutors in Texas on behalf of a much larger meat-packer and suggested that the Iowa prosecutors contact the Texas prosecutors. Rather than giving Agriprocessors - which was described by Mr. Kent as "the largest kosher meat production company in the country" - equal treatment with Swift & Company, Tyson's, and other non-kosher meat-packers who employed even more illegal aliens or even contacting the Texas prosecutors, the attorneys in your office chose to authorize a raid by 600 federal agents, supported by Blackhawk military helicopters, that did enormous physical damage to the Agriprocessors plant and ultimately drove the business into bankruptcy. The raid demolished the economic infrastructure of the Town of Postville, wiped out livelihoods of both legal and illegal workers, and forced Postville's legitimate businesses to shut down. And the 389 workers arrested were subjected to "production-line justice" that has already tarnished the reputation of your Office and the administration of justice in the Northern District of Iowa.
   
2. Mr. Rubashkin Was Vindictively Arrested and Imprisoned Both Pre-Trial and Pre-Sentencing - During the almost six months between the raid and the filing of formal charges Mr. Rubashkin, who received an early "target letter," voluntarily remained in his home in Postville, where he has lived for 18 years with his wife and children and had established a school and other community institutions. His lawyers were in constant communication with attorneys in your Office who knew that he would surrender if notified that formal charges were filed. Nonetheless, he was suddenly arrested -only in order to maximize national publicity- and the attorneys in your Office unjustifiably demanded extraordinarily severe bail conditions and ultimately requested that he be denied bail altogether. No other employer in the country whose premises were raided by ICE in the 2006-2008 period was treated with comparable severity or was imprisoned prior to trial or prior to sentencing. He was imprisoned for 76 days before his trial on the basis of an outrageous and false argument that asserted that any Jew in the United States could flee to Israel and, under its "Law of Return,"avoid justice in the United States. And he has been kept in prison on the request of your Office after the jury verdict in his case even though he was meticulous in observing the conditions of release that the District Judge prescribed when she reversed the erroneous determination - made by a Magistrate Judge because of your Office's vigorous opposition to his release -that he should be imprisoned pending trial. Your Office has even opposed a modest request that he be permitted to go home under 24-hour guard to observe the Passover Seders with his family.
   
3. The Charges Were Fragmented and Multiplied in Seven Successive Indictments - Attorneys in your Office were not content to charge Mr. Rubashkin with the offense of violating the immigration laws and bank fraud. In order to aggravate the appearance of his offense for publicity purposes, they returned seven successive indictments, constantly increasing the number of counts until the total was 163. This was accomplished by fragmenting each offense into several charges. No other employer who was the subject of an ICE immigration raid between 2006-2008 had seven superseding indictments returned against him with ever-increasing numbers of criminal counts.
   
4. Criminal Charges That Had Never Been Brought Against Any Other Defendant Were Filed Against Mr. Rubashkin -Scraping the bottom of the barrel artificially to increase the number of counts against Mr. Rubashkin, attorneys in your office found and alleged violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 based on the fact that Agriprocessors was, on occasion, a few days late in paying cattle dealers. No meat-packer whose premises were raided by ICE in the 2006-2008 period was ever charged with such an offense. Nor has anyone else ever been charged with a criminal offense under this law or any other law for making late payments.
   
5. Although Immigration-Law Offenses Were the Initial Basis for Arresting Mr. Rubashkin and Were Presented Prejudicially to the Jury During His Bank-Fraud Trial, the Immigration Charges Were Dismissed - The attorneys in your Office knew that Agriprocessors had a system for screening job applicants to determine if they were illegal immigrants and that an undercover ICE agent was rejected twice as a result of this screening. Immigration charges were not justified. Nonetheless, the attorneys presented highly prejudicial evidence to the jury at the bank-fraud trial suggesting that Mr. Rubashkin was involved in harboring illegal aliens, and they successfully objected to the admission of evidence he presented refuting his guilt of such charges. After the jury verdict, they dismissed 72 counts of immigration-law charges. No employer charged after an ICE raid in 2006-2008 with violating the immigration laws had such an invidious tactic used against him.
   
6. Your Office Is Seeking a Much Longer Prison Term for Mr. Rubashkin Than Has Been Sought or Imposed on Other Defendants Who Are Charged With Similar Offenses -  Officers or owners of businesses  whose premises were raided by ICE in the 2006-2008 period were either not criminally prosecuted at all (for example, Swift & Co.), were given probation (for example, Mubarik Kahlon of Action Rags USA and Bo Hao Zhu of Miyako Sushi), or received a prison term of one year and a day (for example, Francesco Insolia of Michael Bianco, Inc.) The most serious offender - who was also charged with defrauding the United States of more than $18 million in federal employment taxes - was Richard M. Rosenbaum of Rosenbaum-Cunningham International, Inc., all of whose janitorial employees in 17 states were illegal aliens paid in cash. He received a 120-month sentence. Attorneys in your Office have advised the District Court that Mr. Rubashkin's anticipated sentence is more than 20 years even though the jury found that he did not profit personally from the alleged bank fraud. If your Office requests a prison term of this duration for a non-violent first-time financial offense, it will be longer than the average sentence meted out in the United States for violent offenses, including homicide, robbery, sexual abuse, drug trafficking, and offenses involving national security and defense.

WE URGE YOU  TO ENSURE THAT MR. RUBASHKIN IS TREATED NO WORSE THAN OTHERS WHO ALLEGEDLY COMMITTED THE SAME OFFENSE.

THE RECORD TO THIS DATE PROVES THAT HE HAS BEEN SINGLED OUT FOR CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT AND PUNISHED MUCH MORE SEVERELY THAN ANYONE ELSE.