United States v. Quality Egg, LLC
Decision Date | 14 April 2015 |
Docket Number | No. C 14–3024–MWB.,C 14–3024–MWB. |
Citation | 99 F.Supp.3d 920 |
Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. QUALITY EGG, LLC, et al., Defendant. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa |
99 F.Supp.3d 920
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff
v.
QUALITY EGG, LLC, et al., Defendant.
No. C 14–3024–MWB.
United States District Court, N.D. Iowa, Central Division.
Signed April 14, 2015.
Peter E. Deegan, Jr., U.S. Attorney's Office, Cedar Rapids, IA, for Plaintiff.
Frank R. Volpe, Mark D. Hopson, Thomas C. Green, Sidley Austin, LLP, Washington, DC, Stuart J. Dornan, Dornan, Lustgarten & Troia, PC, LLO, Omaha, NE, for Defendant.
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS PRIOR TO SENTENCING
MARK W. BENNETT, District Judge.
TABLE OF CONTENTS |
---|
I. | INTRODUCTION | 922 |
II. | THE DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS PRIOR TO SENTENCING | 924 |
III. | FACTUAL BACKGROUND | 925 |
A. | Quality Egg Provided False Information and Documents | 927 |
B. | Quality Egg Bribed a USDA Official | 928 |
C. | Quality Egg Changed the “Julian Dates” on Packages of Eggs and Sold Misbranded Eggs into Interstate Commerce | 929 |
D. | Quality Egg Failed to Meet FDA Regulatory Standards | 931 |
IV. | ISSUES | 934 |
V. | DISCUSSION | 934 |
A. | Whether The Sixth Amendment Was Violated By My Factual Finding At The Defendants' Sentencing Hearing | 934 |
1. | Defendants' Arguments | 934 |
2. | Prosecutors' Arguments | 935 |
3. | Analysis | 936 |
B. | Whether the Eighth Amendment Permits a Sentence of Imprisonment for the Defendants' Strict Liability Offenses | 939 |
1. | Defendants' Arguments | 939 |
2. | Prosecutors' Arguments | 939 |
3. | Analysis | 941 |
C. | Whether The Fifth Amendment Permits a Sentence of Imprisonment for the Defendants' Strict Liability Offenses | 947 |
1. | Defendants' Arguments | 947 |
2. | Prosecutors' Arguments | 949 |
3. | Analysis | 951 |
VI. | CONCLUSION | 958 |
I. INTRODUCTION
Gilead is a fictional novel based in the small town of Gilead, Iowa. The main character, Reverend John Ames, is dying from heart complications and, in a Ciceronian fashion,1 he decides to write a letter to his
seven-year-old son with the intention that his son will read that letter after Reverend Ames dies. The novel is an account of life lessons learned by Reverend Ames as well as daily occurrences with his son, wife, and other family and community members. In a theoretical sense, the imagery from one scene in Gilead aptly incorporates some of the key contents of this case—i.e., chicken eggs, a father and a son, rural Iowa, and a disaster:
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