Just after the federal government put a former food industry CEO in prison for the longest term ever handed down for a food safety-related crime, a top official in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
Continue Reading Government Wants to be Able to Jail Egg Executives for Food Safety Violations
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Judge Signs Forfeiture Order Against DeCoster’s Quality Egg, LLC
His company’s guilty plea for bribing a USDA egg inspector is costing Austin (Jack) DeCoster’s Quality Egg,LLC an extra $10,000. U.S. District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett has signed a preliminary order of forfeiture ordering
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DeCoster Defense Team Says Jail for Their Clients Is Not an Option
In his many high-profile run-ins with government officials over labor and environmental controversies, the now-71-year-old Austin “Jack” DeCoster got used to people wanting to see him jail. But it never happened, and his lawyers now
Continue Reading DeCoster Defense Team Says Jail for Their Clients Is Not an Option