U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade agreed that four former supervisors facing charges stemming from a massive immigration raid at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plan in Postville needed more time to prepare their defense and ordered Monday that the trail be postponed until Oct. 13.

Agriprocessors TowerIn the interim, Reade will decide if the jury pool is too tainted to hold proceedings in Cedar Rapids and if the trial should be moved to a neighboring state.  Although Cedar Rapids is roughly 100 miles from Postville by car, defense attorneys for former day-to-day executive Sholom Rubashkin have argued that any location in Iowa is unacceptable due to media reports regarding the raid and subsequent arrests, an editorial written by Gov. Chet Culver and an additional case that alleges child-labor law offenses that has been brought by the state.

Rubashkin and three additional former supervisors — Brent Beebe, Hosam Amara and Zeev Levi — have all entered not guilty pleas in connection with the myriad of federal immigration-related and fraud charges that have been brought against them by federal authorities. Amara and Levi, who are believed to have fled to Israel, have not yet been taken into custody.

In addition to the change of venue, Rubashkin has also petitioned the court to dismiss all 163 federal counts against him due to “abuses of the grand jury process.”

Reade said she anticipates making a ruling “within days.”

Agriprocessors, the meatpacking plant owned and operated by the Rubashkin family that was the site of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in May 2008 in which 389 workers were detained, has been removed from indictment by federal prosecutors. Following a bankruptcy sale, the plant is now under new ownership.