Due process is supposed to be the way it works here. Let’s not change that. This breakdown in the system is the result of the prior administration cutting the USDA’s budget back hard enough that each state has just a few inspectors. I’m a small government guy, but if you have laws, you must have cops. If this company was inspected twice a year the conditions would be cited, and he would have 30 days to correct. After 90 days or upon evidence of contamination they could padlock the place. You have to inspect it to see it.

What would happen if they cut the IRS back to two auditors per service region? Darn few people would pay their taxes.

I think what they did was wrong, and they should be punished. But we have due process to prevent public anger from getting out of hand. It is when passion is behind our convictions that we need to take even greater steps to ensure that justice is served PROPERLY. More than one innocent man has been sent to jail in the haste of public outrage to reach a conviction. On the flip side, more than a few blatant criminals have gotten off from serious charges when it turns out that their original trials were done in haste. This man deserves to rot; but lets make sure that it is done right.

This the same thing as murder.They knowingly sent a tainted product out,to the public to cause harm.

The question the panel should have asked him is “How do you sleep at night?”

I completely agree Dr. Manny. At the very least he should be charged with negligent homicide. However, he knowingly exposed US citizens to a deadly pathogen and should be treated more harshly. How are his actions any different that an HIV positive person purposefully infecting others? Even more deplorable, he did it for money. Murder for profit, not a new concept, but this one takes the cake.

Dr A,

That you are a doctor and not a prosecuter is something we should all be thankful for.

I take at face value your assertion that nine people have died as a result of this salmonella poisoning. That the president of the peanut corp seems to have acted with callous indifference to the harm he was causing by sending out contaminated food is, i agree a criminal act. I look on it as similar as if in going into a shopping mall he decided to fire off a pistol at random and hit nine people. Such and act can, should and i hope will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

However to make the claim that;

“When anyone or anything threatens the welfare of our children, due process must change and you should be guilty until proven innocent.”

is a clear and present danger to the foundation of our justice system. The simple assertion of an accusation should never be allowed to deprive someone of their life, liberty or property. Such assertions must be proven, either beyond a reasonable doubt, in the case of criminal conduct, or by a preponderence of evidence, in a civil case.

There seems to be sufficient evidence, based on what I have heard to try this bastard in court. Give him a fair trial, and if found guilty he should be hung. That is a fitting and proper penalty for killing nine people.

It is also my opinion that the detainees at guantanimo should be hung immediately as non uniformed combatents, captured on the field of battle according to international law

When anyone or anything threatens the welfare of our children, due process must change and you should be guilty until proven innocent.

=======

And how will you know that the welfare of your children was actually threatened without a fair trial?

I completely agree Dr. Manny. This man should be charged with negligent homicide at the least.
However, he knowlingly unleased a deadly pathogen on US citizens. How are his actions any different than someone who puposefully infects others with HIV? It’s still murder. In this case murder for profit, even more despicable.

It sickens me these days to see the new low that Big Shot Exec’s of Wall Street, Banks and Companies are sinking to. It is bad enough that the citizens of America are getting taken to the cleaners financially by greedy C.E.O.’s, but now innocent people are being gravely sickened or even worst – dying, because of Corporate GREED!!! We are witnessing America self-destructing right before our eyes! I will never feel the same about this country that I thought looked after it’s own, it is plunging fast into the depths of HELL! I know that these horrible C.E.O.’s will have to pay an eternal price for what they are doing, how sad that they have been blinded by the great deceiver! I will never purchase another peanut product of any kind due to the sins of this man. He has not only hurt a few, but many because of the backlash that this unspeakable act has caused!!!

In China it is the death penalty. Why not here??

I definatley agree he should be locked up !!!
dangering everyone who eats peanutss !

Dr. Manny,

I normally agree with your rational, but before you begin constructing the gallows, lets find out a few of the facts before breaking out the tar and feathers. Without having all of this guy’s correspondence, and based upon the news clips provided, it doesn’t sound too far out of touch what the guy said. How old are these emails, and are they simply an encouragment to eliminate wasteful practices? “On the floor” in industry terms generally refers to the entire production facility, not simply “ground level”.
Keep in mind, the raw products we are talking about here just came out of the GROUND!!!. I concur if the guy is guilty as charged, he should serve the harshest punishment. But, God forbid we allow modern day events change the way our civil liberties are protected. To further your thought process on guilty until proven innocent, in the cases such as Caylee Anthony, why bother with a trial? If we are going to pick and choose who among us is deserving of civil liberties as established by the constitution over 200 years ago. Take her out in the street , and serve overdue justice.

I can understand your outrage and I hope this CEO spends the rest of his life rotting in jail. But lynch-mob rule is never justified.

Millions of vets put their lives on the line to protect our freedom and rights, including a right to a fair trial. Trial first, then hang him!

While I agree that this man is scum, I have to say that nothing should ever cause us to abandon the “Innocent until proven guilty” right. If this is EVER done, we take the chance that someone Innocent will pay the price of a guilty man! I do think that we need to do whatever we can to prosecute this scumbag and send him to prison, then throw away the key. I have 4 children myself. One who is just 5 yrs old. I would want blood if anything ever happened to her over something like this, but I MUST know that the right person is paying. Never give up the rights that so many people lost their lives to attain for us. God Bless America…….

I believe in due process, too. It’s a valuable safeguard against rash judgment.

Like you, I have children: four surviving. This town’s school, about a block east of our home, got 14 units of PCA’s peanuts last month. And, thankfully, spotted them.

The kids in this town were lucky. Three of PCA’s victims died about fifty miles northeast of here.

That’s entirely too close for comfort.

The urgent matter of getting PCA’s tainted peanuts out of the food supply is, I read, in process.

As time goes on, other necessary steps may be taken. There’s a chance that the FDA will change its procedures. This may be a wake-up call to other business owners, that they live in the real world, where there are consequences to their decisions. And, poisoning America’s food supply may be recognized as a threat to our security.

As for Mr. Parnell, the wunderkind who apparently sold poison peanuts to save a buck, I’m willing to wait for the judicial system to grind through its procedures.

But, if he is as guilty as he seems, and gets off with a fine and a stern talking-to, I will be severely disappointed.

Foxnews is doing an excellent job of hiding the list of products to be avoided due to the problem with peanuts. Please tell me exactly what I should be looking for and where on your website it is located.

Thank You,

David Chamberlain

Wow, this guy sounds like a real turd. I recommend making him eat a few pounds of his own nasty product, then throw his butt in jail for a very long time.

But be careful what you say about due process Manny, that’s the sort of talk that breeds autocracy. Next thing you know the government will do whatever they want and claim it’s for the public good, and…wait, what’s that you say about the economy? Oh snap.

While the sentiment in this article has some appeal on its face, the idea of “guilty until proven innocent” is actually quite frightening. Yes, it is likely that Mr. Parnell and several others will be found guilty and do jail time. However, is it really giving up such a fundamental right in the US, just to speed that up? I say no, it isn’t.

If anything needs to change, it is our oversight and enforcement of current laws. The batches of peanut product were tested for salmonella and found positive. Those results should be reported to the FDA and the tainted product forcibly yanked from production.

Where is the list of products that have been recalled? Thanks.

Jail him! and get the gov fda to start inspecting these food plants thatare run at sub healthy standards, they are getting away with it by hiring illegal labor so no usa born person would allow this to go unreported !come on america wake up, the illegal immigration is wrecking eveyer thing from city budgets to jobs to scholls to neighborhoods! stop the hand out to these 3rd world leeches!

This guy should be thankful that he lives in America and not China. In China they know how to deal with people who run companies like this.

For once in my life, I would liked to have seen the CEO of Peaut Corp. HAND-CUFFED, put in in the back of a police car, then SENT TO JAIL after pleading the 5th…Unbelivable!!! WE NEED TO SEND A MESSAGE to these CORP. LOSERS!!! Then pick-up MADOFF while we are at it.
Ben/Ohio

David Chamberlain,

I think you’ll find that FOXNews isn’t the only news service that is doing an “excellent job of hiding the list of products to be avoided”.

BTW, I found a list on FOXNews, after about five seconds on Google: “List of Recalled Peanut Products” (February 6, 2009)

The search terms I used were:

peanut list site:foxnews.com

A post in one of my blogs, “Salmonella in Peanut Products: the Recall List and Widget” (February 12, 2009). The widget’s sort of fun, but I prefer using the FDA’s list. A link to it is in the first paragraph of the section headed “List of Recalled Peanut Products”

Here’s a direct link to the FDA list: “Peanut Butter and other Peanut Containing Products Recall List.”

I plan to write at least one more post about the peanut problem, in Apathetic Lemming of the North.

Filing under chapter 7 is called protection. There should be no protection for these guys. They knew what what they were doing and took a calculated risk…. And lost …Sue them into the ground.. They lost… That is what happens… Kill half a dozen Americans ..And you don’t get off Scott Free…

Obviously, this guy is an idiot. Guilty until proven innocent? Surely, you jest. Shall we change the constitution because this guy has kids that “might be” at risk? This sounds like something Pelosi or Reed would say. Fox should fire this guy; obviously his rationale is mired in stupidity.

No matter how repulsive this is we (Collectively) are better than he is. We should collect all of the evidence available. Present it to a jury of his peers (us) and if found guilty punish him in the most open way possible. They should provide a televised program of his punishment being carried out. We have become to tolerant of the need for the poor criminal lately in this country. We feel sorry for the criminal and punish the victims. Just when did this start to happen. We “Spare the rod and Spoil the child.” Seems like I have heard that phrase before. “Ben” had the right idea. Since Dr Spock wrote that it was wrong to spank our children things have just gone from good to bad. I would bet his jerk probably just got by and that is how he delt with his business. He thinks that any thing will do in his business. Lets shiow him it will not work. Then send him to jail for the rest of his life w/o parole.

I agree we should not change our system of justice. However, as one person indicated this crime should be conisidered as a homicide. And as in a homicide, the perpetrator should be arrested an put behind bars. Now if you put the crime on par with a mall murderer, there should be no bail.