Criminal courts have played a prominent role in food safety during both 2014 and 2015, and that will continue in 2016. We know that much for certain just by the amount of work the courts are carrying over into the New Year. We also know know the continuation of the
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Sands Offers PCA Defendants Hearings Before Imposing Restitution
The trial court judge who only recently sent four defendants to federal prison for a total of 57 years is not quite through with them. U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands this week let four of the five who were convicted in the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) criminal
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Attorney Makes New Arguments to Try and Free Michael Parnell
Joseph R. Pope, an appellate attorney from Williams Mullen in Richmond, VA, says he can be in Atlanta on any day for the rest of this year to make oral arguments for the release of Michael Parnell while his client’s appeal is heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals
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Stewart Parnell Could Be Sent to ‘Crown Jewel’ of the Federal Prison System
When Bernie Madoff of Ponzi scheme fame was sent to prison for life in 2009, he drew an assignment to the Butner Federal Correctional Complex about 45 minutes northeast of Durham, NC. At the time, the press called Butner the “crown jewel” of the federal prison system. 
Judge W. Louis
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Last Two PCA Sentences Are In: Kilgore Gets 6 Years; Lightsey, 3
The final two sentences have been handed down in the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) criminal case. Former plant managers Samuel Lightsey and Daniel Kilgore were sentenced on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, to three and six years in federal prison, respectively, by U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands. Both
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Last Two PCA Defendants to be Sentenced Tomorrow in Georgia
Sentencing hearings scheduled in federal court tomorrow in Albany, GA, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. ET will all but conclude the trial court’s work in the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) criminal case. To be sentenced on Thursday are the two PCA managers at Blakely, GA, who made deals
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Judge Rejects Motions From PCA Defendants for Release Pending Their Appeals
Motions by Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, and Mary Wilkerson to be released from their prison terms while they appeal their convictions and sentences have all been denied by U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands. On Monday, Sept. 21, Sands sentenced 61-year-old Stewart Parnell, former chief executive officer of the
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Bearing Witness to Justice at the PCA Sentencing
Audiences at my lectures are often surprised that, after the death of my 16-month-old son, Riley, during the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak, no state or federal agency filed criminal charges against anyone involved in that easily-preventable tragedy. For the past 22 years since Riley’s death, I
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Wilkerson Awaits ‘Voluntary Surrender,’ Lists Appeal Grounds
One of the three defendants sentenced Monday in the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) criminal case remains free. Mary Wilkerson, who was sentenced to five years of imprisonment after her jury conviction for obstruction of justice, remains free on a $25,000 bond. That’s until she is assigned to a prison
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Parnells Will Spend the Night in Federal Lockup, Face Many More
Stewart and Michael Parnell will be guests of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons tonight (Monday, Sept. 21, 2015). Mary Wilkerson apparently was given the option of reporting. The long Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) tragedy is over. The deadly Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak PCA products caused back in 2008-09 will take
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