Sending food industry executives to jail for company food safety violations, even if they did not know about them, might seem a useful way to bring about more compliance, but corporate America is rising up
Continue Reading Business Groups Support Appeal to Keep DeCosters Out of Prison
Peter DeCoster
DeCosters Cite 2010 Performance to Help Keep Them Out of Jail
As part of a campaign to keep their clients from serving any prison time, appellate attorneys for Austin (“Jack”) and Peter DeCoster are depicting the roles the former egg producers played in the 2010 Salmonella…
Continue Reading DeCosters Cite 2010 Performance to Help Keep Them Out of Jail
Top Appellate Lawyer Will Try and Keep the DeCosters From Going to Jail
Whether Austin “Jack” and Peter DeCoster can be jailed under Park Doctrine prosecutions — meaning where the government did not have to show they had any knowledge or intent, let alone negligence, regarding food safety…
Continue Reading Top Appellate Lawyer Will Try and Keep the DeCosters From Going to Jail
DeCosters Appeal Jail Sentences to 8th Circuit
The federal judge who sentenced Austin “Jack” and Peter DeCoster to each serve three months in federal confinement predicted that the two defendants would appeal, and they’ve now proven him correct. The prospect of serving…
Continue Reading DeCosters Appeal Jail Sentences to 8th Circuit
Letter From the Editor: A Case Best Not Left to a Jury
In the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, Judge Mark W. Bennett’s courtroom is on the third floor of the federal building dedicated Dec. 29, 1933, and, at the time, called Uncle…
Continue Reading Letter From the Editor: A Case Best Not Left to a Jury
DeCoster Sentencing in Sioux City Reveals Many Sides of the Story
At Monday’s sentencing that took just short of five hours, the man who was once the largest egg producer in the U.S. finally got to tell his side of the story, one victim’s father spoke…
Continue Reading DeCoster Sentencing in Sioux City Reveals Many Sides of the Story
DeCosters Get Three Months in Jail, One Year of Probation
Austin “Jack” DeCoster and his son, Peter DeCoster, were each sentenced Monday in a Sioux City, IA, federal courtroom to three months in jail and one year of supervised probation.
The sentences, handed down by…
Continue Reading DeCosters Get Three Months in Jail, One Year of Probation
Government Not Recommending Jail Time For DeCosters, Sentencing Brief Reveals
The government’s plea agreement with Austin (Jack) DeCoster, his son Peter, and Quality Egg LLC leaves it “to the the Court’s discretion whether to impose a sentence of incarceration, home confinement, or probation,” according to…
Continue Reading Government Not Recommending Jail Time For DeCosters, Sentencing Brief Reveals
DeCosters Will Face Victims and Possible Jail Time at Sentencing
His sentencing in two weeks in a federal courtroom in Sioux City, IA, won’t be the first time that Austin “Jack” DeCoster has had to pay up for his legal misdeeds. DeCoster has paid millions…
Continue Reading DeCosters Will Face Victims and Possible Jail Time at Sentencing
DOJ Food-Safety Enforcement Role to Continue in 2015
When producers of such staple foods as beef, eggs, and peanut butter found they were the targets of federal criminal prosecution, it became a top food-safety story of 2014. But is it likely that food-safety…
Continue Reading DOJ Food-Safety Enforcement Role to Continue in 2015