PAUL KRUSE’S DEFENSE SEEKING PARED-DOWN INDICTMENT AHEAD OF TRIAL
The attorneys for retired Blue Bell Creameries President Paul Kruse want to dismiss several pieces from the criminal indictment ahead of his trial, set to begin August 1st.
According to reports this week from Food Safety News, defense attorneys Chris Flood and John Cline are looking to remove “sanitation issues” from the indictment and block evidence or argument from being presented on the matter.
The attorneys say in a pre-trial motion that language about alleged unsanitary conditions at Blue Bell’s facilities, including roof leaks, condensation and high coliform counts, are “surplusage.” They claim the sanitation conditions listed in the indictment are detached from the two months that the alleged charges took place.
Kruse’s defense also argues the indictment includes reports that Blue Bell exceeded a Texas Administrative Code coliform standard, but fails to mention that there is no federal standard. That, the defense says, would not show that Kruse intended to defraud customers regarding positive Listeria tests in February 2015, nor would it indicate there was a scheme to defraud.
In a second pre-trial motion, the attorneys seek dismissal of the indictment “to the extent it relies on Kruse’s alleged nondisclosure of certain information to Blue Bell’s customers because the indictment does not allege that Kruse had a duty to disclose that information. In the alternative, Kruse asks that the Court strike the nondisclosure allegations.”
The defense claims it was “part of the conspiracy” that Kruse did not share information about positive tests with customers or direct Blue Bell employees to communicate openly with them concerning potential contamination in certain ice cream products.
Kruse faces one count of conspiracy and six counts of fraud in relation to the 2015 listeria outbreak, which led to the deaths of three people and 10 hospitalizations.
In a related case, Blue Bell pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing adulterated food products in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The company paid $19.35 million in fines, forfeitures, and civil settlement payments, the second largest amount ever paid for the resolution of a food safety matter.