arnell was convicted for a nationwide salmonella outbreak.
By Raif Karerat
Stewart Parnell, a former peanut executive convicted for his role in a nationwide salmonella outbreak in 2008 and 2009 that killed 9 people, may get sentenced to life in prison, if federal prosecutors and victims have their way.
Parnell, who ran the Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America for decades, was found guilty last year on more than 70 criminal charges, including knowingly shipping tainted food across state lines, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and wire fraud, according to the Washington Post.
His company once boasted of being “The Processor of the World’s Finest Peanut Products” with a “remarkable food-safety record,” but in reality its own internal testing flagged salmonella contamination half a dozen times in 2007 and 2008, according to investigators. However, Parnell approved shipments despite the clear warnings.
Federal and state disease detectives traced the deaths of nine people to PCA’s peanut processing plant in Blakely, Georgia. Another 714 people in 46 states were sickened, some critically, reported CNN.
At trial, prosecutors called 45 witnesses and presented more than 1,000 documents including months of emails, lab results and financial records to make their case that Parnell knew about the contamination, covered it up and ordered PCA to continue shipments of salmonella-tainted peanut paste used to manufacture a variety of products.
The families of victims poisoned by salmonella after eating products from Parnell’s company urged a judge to impose a stiff sentence on Parnell in court on Monday. Federal officials have recommended that Parnell receive a life sentence — the harshest punishment ever for a food-related crime.
Jacob Hurley, who was only 3-years-old when he became seriously ill after eating peanut butter crackers processed by PCA, said it would be okay with him for Parnell “to spend the rest of this life in prison,” according to an Associated Press report.
Randy Napier’s mother died in January 2009, at 80, after eating contaminated peanut butter at an assisted-living home in Ohio. Napier told the Washington Post that his mother raised him to not harbor ill will toward anyone, but Parnell’s failure to acknowledge the consequences of his actions has made him a hard man to forgive.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s a murderer. What else can you call him?” he said. “I wouldn’t be so harsh if he had just taken responsibility. He has yet to take responsibility. He’s getting what he deserves.”