Eleventh Circuit consolidates Stewart and Micheal Parnell cases for oral arguments

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has consolidated the cases of the brothers Stewart and Michael Parnell. The high court based in Atlanta granted Elliott M. Harding, attorney for Michael Parnell’s June 6 motion to consolidate the case.

It means that the 2255 Motions, filed separately by the Parnell brothers in 2019, will now be heard in September in oral arguments before the Eleventh Circuit.

The 2255 Motions are for release from the Parnell brothers’ convictions and sentences, handed down concerning their roles in a deadly nationwide outbreak traced to peanut butter products. 

Until the recent court order,  these Habeas Corpus motions alleging violations of constitutional rights were on parallel tracks. 

With the consolidation order, Michael Parnell’s case is merged with Stewart Parnell v. United States, scheduled for oral arguments in September before a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta. 

Harding, an attorney from Charlottesville, VA, filed the motion for consolidation “without  objection from opposing counsel or counsel for Mr. Stewart Parnell.”

The motion also asked for a “certificate or appealability” from the District Court’s final judgment, which adopted a Report and Recommendation but denied his 2255 petition. 

In May, the appellate court scheduled Stewart Parnell’s case to “Calendar 23” for oral arguments on Sept. 23. Michael Parnell has no scheduled oral arguments, so he is asking for consolidation.

Harding’s motion continued: “To ensure the provision of oral arguments on the merits for Mr. Michael Parnell, and to eliminate the prospect of these materially similar cases being considered  by alternative panels and potentially alternative outcomes on the merit, all parties agree that it is in the interest of justice and judicial economy from Mr. Michael Parnell  to receive oral argument, and for such argument to be consolidated with Mr. Stewart Parnell’s pending appeal.”

Harding asks for “the opportunity to make a full oral presentation” for Michael Parnell, which will be in addition to the one for Stewart Parnell, “should the Court be willing to consolidate these matters.” He is seeking 15 minutes for each brother’s case to be argued before the appellate judges.

Before this, the closest the Parnell brothers came to consolidating their 2255 Motions came in 2021 when the Middle District of Georgia held back-to-back evidentiary hearings for them in the same Albany, GA, federal courtroom where they were convicted by a jury in 2014. The two federal inmates were able to be present for those hearings.

Stewart Parnell, 70, once the top executive of the now-defunct Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), and Michael Parnell, 65, who was a peanut broker at PCA, are inmates at the federal low-security lock-up near Durham, NC, known as Butner.

Jury prejudice and ineffective assistance by legal counsel are likely issues for oral argument.

In 2008-09, PCA’s Georgia peanut processing plant was the source of a multi-state Salmonella outbreak that sickened thousands and resulted in numerous deaths. PCA peanut butter and paste subsequently required the recall of thousands of products.

Subsequently, a four-year investigation led by the FBI resulted in criminal indictments against several PCA executives and managers, with the Parnell brothers facing the most charges.

An Albany, GA, jury found the brothers guilty on most of the 68 felony counts they were charged with on Feb. 15, 2013. Stewart Parnell’s convictions included conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, selling misbranded food, and introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce.

Stewart Parnell was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison, while Michael Parnell received a 20-year sentence. His lesser sentence was due to several counts on which he was found not guilty.

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