Parnell Brothers Lose Appeal of Peanut Corporation Salmonella Convictions

Remember brothers Stewart and Michael Parnell? The former was the owner and president of Peanut Corp. of America, the latter a food broker who helped Stewart knowingly distribute contaminated peanut products that led to a nationwide salmonella outbreak in 2008 – and nine deaths.

The 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta on Aug. 11 upheld their convictions, rejecting the brothers’ contention that their attorneys were deficient for failing to seek a change of venue for their joint trial in Georgia. The requested change would have been based on a presumption of jury prejudice due to pretrial publicity and community hostility, the Circuit Court wrote.

One year after his 2014 conviction, Stewart Parnell was sentenced to 28 years in prison for conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud and other crimes related to the recall, one of the country's largest food poisoning incidents. The recall involved some 800 products from dozens of food processors who bought peanut products from PCA.

“There was enough evidence at their trial to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Stewart and Michael Parnell knowingly distributed untested peanut products with fraudulent Certificates of Analysis, and they failed to inform customers when they later discovered those lots had tested positive for bacteria,” the court wrote. Also, “Stewart kept retesting product that had tested positive for bacteria until he got a negative result, and he knowingly shipped product that had tested positive.”

His brother, Michael Parnell, a food broker associated with the company, received 20 years, and Mary Wilkerson, the plant's former quality control manager, got five years. All apparently knew they had shipped salmonella-tainted peanut butter mostly to branded food processors - including Kellogg Co., General Mills and Ralcorp - and they falsified records to cover that deed.