DES MOINES Kosher meatpacking executive Sholom Rubashkin was acquitted in an Iowa state court of child labor violations this week.
Rubashkin was found not guilty on Monday, June 7, on all 67 counts of child labor violations, relating to 26 teenagers from South America who worked at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.
Several then-underage workers at the Agriprocessors plant were flown in from Guatemala by the court to testify against Rubashkin.
The jury reached its verdict during the second day of deliberations. The state trial in Waterloo, Iowa, had lasted a month.
Rubashkin was convicted last November on 86 federal financial fraud charges in connection with the plant. His sentencing in that case is set for this month.
Rubashkins advocates say that the acquittal in the child labor case cast doubts on the integrity of Rubashkins convinction in the financial faud case, since prosecutors relied on accusations against him in the child labor arena to discredit him. This, say the advocates, augurs well for Rubashkin in either the sentencing phase or the appeal of the financial fraud case.
The Agriprocessors plant was the site of a federal immigration raid in May, 2008 in which 389 illegal immigrants, including 31 children, were arrested.
Search the IJN using the term Agriprocessors, and find all of our stories tracking this landmark case in the kosher meat industry.
