The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has consolidated the cases of brothers Stewart and Michael Parnell. The Supreme Court in Atlanta granted Elliott M. Harding, attorney on Michael Parnell’s June 6 motion to consolidate the case.
It means the 2,255 motions, filed separately by the Parnell brothers in 2019, will now be heard in oral arguments before the Eleventh Circuit in September.
The 2255 Motions seek to vacate the Parnell brothers’ convictions and sentences regarding their role in a deadly nationwide outbreak traced to peanut butter products.
Until the recent court order, these Habeas Corpus motions alleging violations of constitutional rights were running in parallel.
The consolidation order merges Michael Parnell’s case with Stewart Parnell v. United States, which will be heard orally in September before a panel of judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta.
Harding, an attorney from Charlottesville, VA, filed the motion to consolidate “without objection from opposing counsel or counsel for Mr. Stewart Parnell.”
The motion also requested a “certificate of appeal” from the District Court’s final judgment, which adopted a report and recommendation, but denied his 2255 request.
In May, the appeals court scheduled Stewart Parnell’s case on “Calendar 23” for oral arguments on September 23. Michael Parnell has no scheduled oral arguments, so he is asking for consolidation.
Harding’s motion continued: “To ensure that Mr. Michael Parnell may present oral arguments on the merits, and to eliminate the prospect that these materially similar matters will be considered by alternative panels and possibly alternative outcomes on the merits, all parties agree that it is in the interests of justice and legal economy for Mr Michael Parnell to receive oral arguments, and that such arguments be consolidated with the pending appeal of Mr Stewart Parnell.
Harding is asking for “the opportunity to make a full oral presentation” before Michael Parnell, which will complement that of Stewart Parnell, “should the Court be willing to consolidate these matters.” He demands 15 minutes to argue each brother’s case before the appellate judges.
Previously, the closest the Parnell brothers came to consolidating their 2,255 motions was in 2021, when the Middle District of Georgia held back-to-back hearings for them in the same federal courtroom in Albany, GA, where they were convicted by a jury. 2014. The two federal prisoners were able to attend those hearings.
Stewart Parnell, 70, once the chief executive of the now-defunct Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), and Michael Parnell, 65, who was a peanut broker at PCA, are inmates at the federal low-security prison near Durham. NC, known as Butner.
Jury bias and ineffective assistance by legal counsel are likely issues for oral arguments.
In 2008-2009, PCA’s peanut processing plant in Georgia was the source of a multi-state Salmonella outbreak that sickened thousands of people and caused countless deaths. PCA peanut butter and spread subsequently required the recall of thousands of products.
Subsequently, a four-year investigation led by the FBI resulted in criminal charges against several PCA executives and managers, with the Parnell brothers facing the most charges.
An Albany, GA jury found the brothers guilty of most of the 68 crimes they were charged with on February 15, 2013. Stewart Parnell’s convictions include conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, selling misbranded food and introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. .
Stewart Parnell was sentenced to 28 years in prison, while Michael Parnell received a 20-year sentence. His reduced sentence was due to several offenses for which he was found not guilty.
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