RETRIAL FOR PAUL KRUSE SET FOR 2023

  

A retrial date has been set for next year in the federal case of former Blue Bell Creameries president and CEO Paul Kruse.

A second jury will be called in April to try Kruse, after the first one empaneled in August could not reach a unanimous decision.  A mistrial was declared after the jury voted 10-2 in favor of acquitting Kruse on charges of conspiracy and fraud in connection to Blue Bell’s 2015 listeria outbreak.

Kruse’s case goes back to May 2020, when he was first charged on accusations of concealing what the company knew about listeria contamination at Blue Bell facilities.  The charges were later dismissed because the Department of Justice (DOJ) initially failed to obtain an indictment from a federal grand jury.  That indictment, however, would come in October 2020.

Kruse was originally to be tried for seven total counts, but one count of fraud was dismissed at the DOJ’s request.

In a separate case, Blue Bell pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of distributing adulterated ice cream products.  The company was penalized a total of $19.35 million in fines, forfeitures and civil settlement payments.