Rubashkin Trial Moved to South Dakota

Citing media accounts that prohibit seating of an impartial jury, U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade ruled Tuesday that a trial for four former Agriprocessors supervisors will be moved to Sioux Falls, S.D.

The trial, currently scheduled for Oct. 10, involves immigration- and fraud-related charges against Sholom Rubashkin, son of company founder A. Aaron Rubashkin, and three additional supervisors — Brent Bebee, Hosam Amara and Zeev Levi.

The charges stem from a massive immigration raid and follow-up investigation at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville. A total of 389 workers, most from either Guatemala or Mexico, were detained and charged by federal authorities with immigration-related offenses.

Reade had twice denied a change of venue request, but had left open the opportunity for defense attorneys to refile the request in the weeks before trial was scheduled to begin. The thought was that public sentiment that might have been impacted by media reports could be better measured at a time closer to the trial date.

In order to determine public sentiment, more than 500 random eastern Iowans were surveyed. Upon reading, Reade determined the survey responses “demonstrate that the prodigious amount of negative pretrial publicity has caused the vast majority of potential jurors to develop and maintain a pervasive, strong bias against Defendants Rubashkin and Agriprocessors.”

“Based on the court’s analysis of the juror questionnaires, this bias would directly impact the ability of nearly all of the potential jurors to set aside their biases and decide the case based only on the evidence presented at trial,” Reade wrote in the order. “As a result, the court finds that the pretrial publicity in the community is so extensive and inflammatory that it raises a presumption that an impartial jury could not be seated in the Northern District of Iowa in October of 2009.”

Reade also states that she chose the Southern District of South Dakota (Sioux Falls) because “there has been only minimal publicity surrounding Agriprocessors and the instant action in that district” and also because the area is roughly the same size as the Cedar Rapids region. Reade closed her order with a reminder to counsel to refrain from speaking with the press, particularly publications in or around Sioux Falls.

The South Dakota location is convenient to the Northern District of Iowa given its proximity to court facilities in Sioux City, just 90 miles from Sioux Falls. It remains unclear, however, how convenient it will be for individuals in and around Postville who had planned to attend the trial.

It is also worth noting that although Rubashkin and his counsel argued for the change of venue, both the prosecution and counsel for Bebee resisted the change. Levi and Amara remain at large and took no part in the proceedings.

Rubashkin and several other members of plant management, including his father who resides in Brooklyn, N.Y., also face several thousand state charges of alleged child-labor law violations.