The scheduling of two pre-trial hearings makes it more likely that the July 14 criminal jury trial of the former executives of Peanut Corporation of America will get underway as scheduled. The first is a “status conference” that will be conducted by telephone at 11 a.m. on June 13, 2014, with all the attorneys involved in the case. The second will be a 10 a.m. on June 24, 2014, hearing in federal Judge W. Louis Sands’ courtroom in Albany, GA. At the second hearing, Sands will hear evidentiary motions “in limine” that will determine what the jury will be allowed to hear at trial. These include motions made by both the government and the defendants. For example, the government wants to be able to use microbiological testing conducted by PCA, and it wants to exclude certain statements made by the defendants during the investigation as “inadmissible hearsay.” Also, attorneys for the defendants do not want the jury hearing anything about the illnesses and deaths experienced during the Salmonella outbreak that was traced back to PCA. Attorneys for Stewart Parnell, the former PCA chief executive officer, are especially determined to keep the jury from ever seeing one email that the government wants to introduce at trial. That email been sealed for the past year. “Given the fact that this solitary email out of thousands has nothing to do with providing any motive or intent to commit the crimes alleged in the indictment, there is no need for this email to enter the public domain unless it is deemed to be admissible,” defense attorney Thomas J. Bondurant, Jr., argues on Parnell’s behalf. Bondurant says that the email should remain under seal. “The right of access ‘to inspect and copy judicial records is not absolute,’” he wrote. Contents of the email “could mislead or confuse potential jurors and the public about the alleged criminal conduct in this case,” he added. Meanwhile, attorneys for Michael Parnell, who handled peanut broker duties for PCA, asked for a few more days to respond to the government’s motions in limine. Government attorneys have agreed to a schedule that gives them until June 20 to reply. Michael Parnell’s attorneys — Edward D. Tolley, Devin Harness Smith and Bondurant — got the PCA jury trial postponed to this summer because of a schedule conflict they had last fall with representing an Oklahoma defendant charged with murder. They cited their involvement in a lengthy jury trial and being named by the court in another capital case as reasons why they needed a few extra days to file their response to the government’s motions. Federal felony charges have been pending since February 2013 against Stewart Parnell and Michael Parnell, who are brothers, and former PCA quality control manager Mary Wilkerson. Two other former PCA executives, Daniel Kilgore and Samuel Lightsey, have each pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges stemming from the case. Among the pre-trial rulings that must be made is one involving whether or not Virginia neuropsychologist Dr. Joseph C. Conley, Jr., can appear as an expert witness to testify that Stewart Parnell suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).