Posted July 27, 2015
Federal court officers have recommended a life sentence for a peanut company executive convicted of selling salmonella-tainted food, according to a CNBC article available here.
Stewart Parnell, former Peanut Corporation of America owner, is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 21 by a federal judge in Albany, Georgia.
Parnell, peanut broker Michael Parnell and former plant quality manager Mary Wilkerson were found guilty Sept. 19th on 71 counts, including conspiracy, obstruction of justice and introduction of adulterated food, according to USA Today.
The contamination was the most deadly and expensive contaminated food-borne disease outbreak in the country, according to the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) findings. Nine people died and 700 were sickened after eating the tainted food.
Because the Parnell brothers are middle-aged, the multiple-count convictions could add up to the equivalent of life sentences. Wilkerson’s conviction carries a maximum term of 20 years. Federal sentencing guidelines, findings of the pre-sentence investigative reports and prosecution and defense recommendations will all contribute, according to Food Safety News.
Stewart and Michael Parnell were briefly taken into custody after the trial, but they have since been free on cash bonds of $150,000 and $100,000, respectively. Wilkerson has been free on unsecured bond since the indictment.
In their court filing, prosecutors stood by their numbers for victims injured and financial losses — and insisted they possibly understate the impact, according to CNBC.
“Life in prison, especially in a food case, it’s frankly unprecedented,” said Bill Marler, who has represented victims of food-borne illnesses for two decades. “But the case itself, on a factual basis, is unprecedented.”
The government brief released Thursday is available here.
For more information on food safety, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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