Today I published an op-ed in the Des Moines Register -- Life in Prison for Rubashkan Is Too Harsh -- concerning the Sholom Rubashkan case.
As you may have read elsewhere, Rubashkan is the former owner of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse (AgriProcessors) charged and convicted on dozens of federal fraud charges. (The case initiated with a raid and arrest related to more than two hundred undocumented workers). He's to be sentenced on April 28, and federal prosecutors are seeking a Guidelines sentence of life imprisonment. While not excusing Rubashkan's conduct, my piece addresses the issue of federal guidelines in large-scale fraud cases that are sometimes disconnected from any common sentencing sense.
I hope you'll read it and let me know if you have any thoughts.
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