By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
In the end, the weight of a letter signed by a dozen ex-U.S. Attorneys, a former Solicitor General and six ex-Attorney Generals including Janet Reno, Ramsey Clark and Edwin Meese III, carried little weight in the sentencing Tuesday of Sholom Rubashskin, the former chief executive of an Iowa kosher meat packing plant, who was convicted on 86 counts of federal bank fraud in connection with loans to the company.
U.S. District Judge Linda R. Reade sentenced Rubashkin to 27 years in prison and ordered him to pay $27 million in restitution, according to the Associated Press.
The group of former law enforcement officials had written the judge inApril to say the harsh sentence recommended by the prosecution was a “potentially severe injustice.” At the time the letter was written, the prosecution had asked for a life sentence, but later lowered that to 25 years.
”We cannot fathom how truly sound and sensible sentencing rules could call for a life sentence — or anything close to it — for Mr. Rubashkin, a 51-year-old, first-time, nonviolent offender,” the group of former laws enforcement officials wrote to the judge..
Rubashkin headed up the Agriprocessor kosher plant in Pottsville, Iowa, which was raided in 2008 as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. Almost 400 illegal immigrants were detained. Last November, he was convicted on the bank fraud charges and the prosecution subsequently dropped the charges related to the illegal immigrants.
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