Stewart Parnell exercised his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to answer lawmakers' questions about Peanut Corp. More than five years later, he is on trial with his brother and a former employee. He refused to testify when called before a congressional hearing, and likewise never took the witness stand during the criminal trial that led to his conviction in U.S. District Court a year ago. After we published my article about former Peanut Corporation of America CEO, Stewart Parnell, on Monday, I heard from one of his family members, who did not want to be identified by name: “Mr. Defense attorneys argued that Parnell did not know about mismanagement at the plant and that he was the fall guy for other employees' wrongdoing. Health officials discovered similar poor conditions at PCA's other processing plant in Plainview, Texas. ", (Additional reporting by David Beasley in Atlanta and Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida; Editing by David Adams, Lisa Shumaker and Sharon Bernstein), There’s nothing fishy about the benefits of omega-3s. Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. "The jury saw this for what it was. "Manufacturers already pay attention, but they will take note that if they were to fail, there can be serious ramifications," Pollack said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), based on epidemiological projections, that number translates to more than 22,000 total cases including nine deaths. Stewart Parnell was found guilty of all but one of the 68 felony counts with which he was charged on Feb. 15, 2013. But he said more needs to be done on the front end -- before tragedy strikes. “I just read your article concerning Peanut Corporation of America. Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement. ", Bill Marler, an attorney who specializes in food-safety cases and represented many of the salmonella victims in civil lawsuits, said: "The fact that he was prosecuted at all is a victory for consumers.". Judge Sands will issue a restitution order at a later date. COAs are documents that summarize laboratory results, including test results concerning the presence or absence of pathogens in food. In the PCA outbreak, former company employees described filthy conditions at the plant in southwest Georgia. Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, said Parnell's sentence will make corporate executives think twice before engaging in wrongful activities. "The tragedy of this case is that at a peanut processing plant in Middle Georgia, protecting the public lost out to increasing of profits. His brother, food broker Michael Parnell, was also convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday. "He just ran his business in a way that caused a lot of injury and some deaths. Salmonella is often associated with meat, poultry, eggs and raw milk -- products from animals that are carriers of the bacteria. "No one thought that the products were unsafe or could harm someone," said Stewart Parnell's daughter, Grey Parnell. A total of. Clinton,” she wrote. A new study has finally shed light on the issue. I’m truly, truly sorry for what’s happened.”. His mother, Zelda Parnell, told the judge both of her sons "have suffered for years.". Michael Parnell, 56, of Midlothian, Virginia, who worked at P.P. The prosecution was a rarity, Marler said, because the Department of Justice charged the Parnell brothers with felonies. Stewart Parnell faced life in prison and his brother faced about 24 years. "Our request is not a selfish request; we only ask that you assign any monies to aid families who have suffered or are suffering from food borne illnesses.". "Given the ages of these two men, this is a life sentence," Bondurant said. U.S. District Judge Louis Sands gave Michael Parnell 20 years in prison. "I just hope they ship you all to jail," Almer said. More than 100,000 people are hospitalized and about 3,000 die from infections the federal government says are largely preventable. Parnell has maintained all along that his company engaged in commercial fraud but that he was not aware of it. The Food and Drug Administration estimates that every year, 48 million people -- one out of six -- suffer from food-borne illnesses. In May, ConAgra Foods agreed to pay $11.2 million to settle federal charges that it shipped salmonella-tainted Peter Pan Peanut Butter that sickened at least 625 people in 2007.
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