A sealed motion filed on behalf of Mary Wilkerson, the former Peanut Corporation of America manager of quality control, has been referred to federal Magistrate Thomas Q. Langstaff. U.S. Circuit Court Judge W. Louis Sands held an ex parte conference (only involving one party) regarding Wilkerson on Monday, and the sealed motion was referred to the magistrate the following day. Wilkerson is charged with two counts of obstruction of justice in the federal criminal case against former PCA managers, which is scheduled for a jury trial beginning July 14. The subject of the sealed motion remains secret. Previous pre-trial motions from Wilkerson’s defense attorney, Thomas G. Ledford, have focused on the discovery challenges in a case involving thousands of computer documents. A telephonic status conference for all parties in the case is scheduled for Friday. Two former PCA managers who were originally charged reached plea agreements with the government, but the two facing the most charges, brothers Stewart and Michael Parnell, remain to be tried with Wilkerson. Stewart Parnell, the former PCA chief executive officer, is charged with 72 federal felony counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, and obstruction of justice, in addition to shipping adulterated and misbranded food. Michael Parnell, the former PCA peanut broker, is charged with a similar list of 67 felonies. Attorneys for Michael Parnell were given until Monday to respond to certain pre-trial motions from the government. They asked for extra time because they were involved in another trial.