The Jewish Press editorial board published the following statement: “We know we speak for many in our community when we express sadness at the news that the United States Supreme Court on Monday decided not to review the 27-year sentence meted out to former Agriprocessors chief executive Sholom Rubashkin.
“At bottom we believe that nothing in the public record concerning Mr. Rubashkin’s crimes can justify a man in his early fifties being sent away to federal prison for more than a quarter of a century.
“While we certainly believe that those convicted of crimes should pay a penalty, we believe that from the run up to his trial through this apparently final phase of the judicial process, his case fairly reeked of a sense of injustice: his prosecution was accompanied by an extraordinary level of negative publicity rarely seen in modern judicial proceedings; the list of charges lodged against him, though facially legitimate, was uncommonly inflated in number and degree and, in criminal law parlance, “piled on”; the presiding judge, by any measure, at least raised serious questions of impropriety with her highly unusual ongoing contact with the prosecution team; and the sentence of 27 years stood out among those imposed on others convicted of similar crimes.
“In permitting such obvious issues to go unaddressed, the appellate courts failed not only Mr. Rubashkin but also others who may at one time or another find themselves enmeshed in the vagaries of our federal judicial system that do not always account for a possibly compromised trial judge and where formal review procedures are sometimes allowed to trump basic humanity.”
We share the comments his lawyer, Nathan Lewin, one of the foremost criminal defense and appellate attorneys of our time, gave to Matzav.com:
“The Supreme Court’s refusal to consider the Rubashkin case – which is the greatest injustice that I have seen in more than 50 years of law practice – was very distressing. But the legal battle is not over. There are, in American legal history, a few famous cases “that will not die.” The Rubashkin case is in that league. The Torah teaches that tzedek does not come easily; it must be pursued. Even at this juncture, there are legal avenues for overturning a fundamentally unfair trial.”
{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
Sadness? What about indignation or even anger?
But what went wrong? Why did.they reject it?
it would behoove mr lewin, as defendants attorney,and as one who gave his best shots,albeit rejected by the supreme court,to enlighten all as to the “legal avenues” that
still remain, the chances of their success,
and an understanding why they were not used
in the briefs or support documents from the
support documents!! Please, mr. lewin, enlighten klal yisroel
#1,
divrei chachomim benachas nishmoin
Sad.
#1 And what about heartbrokeness that a good and kind-hearted man with such a wonderful family is languishing in a prison and short of a miracle his chances look very bleak. If one can put himself in his situation for a second and think what he is going through every day. I davened and continue to daven for him every Tefila during the Yomim Noiraim and over Yom Tov when I say Ya’aleh V’yovoi and say the words V’zichron Kol Amcho Bais Yisroel.. May H-shem send him a yeshua bekorov…
May Reb Shalom have a tremendous yeshua this Hoshana Raba!
What did #1say wrong? Don’t you speak English? He.just said.rhat we’re all angry and indignant over the court’s decision!
Question!
Can the court decide to hear the case yet or that’s it with the Supreme Court? Cuz, the injustice argument made by all those legal minds and elected personages ought not be ignored carte’ blanche!
what do you think about davening toghether the same time kol klall israel liyechua sso??