From the description of the movie:
UNJUSTIFIED explores the vast discretion prosecutors have to choose and amplify charges, essentially creating slam-dunk cases that ensure guilty pleas. The question is not whether many of the people convicted are innocent – in most cases the film considers, they are in fact found guilty – but rather if the guilty are or are not guaranteed a fair trial.
On September 24, the U.S. Supreme Court will begin to consider which of approximately 10,000 petitions for a writ of certiorari it will add to its docket in October. One of the cases before them is Rubashkin v. United States. It is one of the stories UNJUSTIFIED follows in depth.
Rubashkin v. United States started as the largest immigration raid in US history and ended in a bank fraud case concerning a $35 million loan that cuts to the heart of our nation’s judicial excess.
The case has drawn widespread support from all sides of the political spectrum from former Federal prosecutor and U.S. Congressman Ted Poe, former U.S. Attorneys General Richard Thornburgh and Ed Meese to former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, U.S. Congresswoman and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and the Iowa ACLU and draws attention to sentencing disparities between courts, problems with sentencing guidelines, over-criminalization, prosecutorial power and the boundaries of the relationship between judges and the prosecutors who argue before them.
“We live in a nation of people raised on Law & Order, whose parents grew up with Perry Mason,” says Nick McKinney, director of the new documentary that explores the American justice system. “We have this idea of due process where two fair-minded lawyers argue before an impartial judge, but in reality the system – and the power of prosecutors to bring and amplify charges – stacks the odds against defendants.”
In this case, Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin faced over 160 counts of fraud and immigration violations after seven superseding indictments piled on the charges. Ultimately, the fraud case was severed from the immigration case; the immigration case was never tried and Rubashkin was found guilty on 86 of 91 counts related to fraud. For those crimes, he faced over 1,000 years in prison.
At sentencing, prosecutors sought a life sentence until six former US Attorneys General and other Justice Department veterans wrote to the judge objecting to such harsh punishment. Prosecutors revised their request to 25 years in prison; Judge Linda Reade sentenced Mr. Rubashkin to 27 years – more than many other white-collar criminals whose crimes far exceeded the value of Mr. Rubashkin’s.
A subsequent Freedom of Information Act request returned documents demonstrating Judge Reade had worked with prosecutors in the months leading up to the initial raid on Mr. Rubashkin’s business, creating what his defense argues is “at the very least the appearance of impropriety.”
Directed and Produced by Nicholas McKinney
Director of Photography: Valery Lyman
Edited By: Lorian James Delman
Additional Cinematography: Daniel Marracino, Paul Mailman
Co-ordinating Producer: David Schankula
Archival Producer: Christine Fall
Audio: Eric Wylie
A Long Tail Films Production – copyright 2012
His bday is chof ches tishrei IYH
rigth now his kapital is nun gimmel
abslutely injustice!! heart goes out to family!! hopefully hell be ou soon!!
moshiach now!!
when is his bday? what kapital is he?
everyone needs to sign, no matter what your personal opinion is, a jew should not sit in jail for such a long time regardless of what he did!! we want G-D to give us a good year, a year without pain and suffering, we want HIM to have pity on is, then do the right thing and show HIM that we have pity too!!!
If every Chabad shliach worldwide sends this out to all their constituents then it has a chance of going viral, I dont think it will happen thru the heimishe community alone.
YOU can make a differencce!!!!
We need to do EVERYTHING we can al pi teva- VIEW the video, LIKE the video, SHARE the video, SIGN the petition!!!
We alll know that Sholom Mordechai Rubahskin is sitting in jail because of a kitrug in shamayim – not againt him alone but againt ALL of Klall Yisrael!!! right now – especially in the aserres yimei teshuva- we NEED more DAVENING, LEARNING, HACHLATOS- we need to BEG Hashem to take away this gezeira and bring a IMMEDIATE YESHUSHA to Sholom Mordechai and all of BY!! MOSHAIHC NOW!!!!
Poor family
Keli + Sayaata Dshmaya!!
THE ONLY PETITION WE NEED TO SIGN IS AT THE POLLING BOOTHS….WHEN WE TICK ROMNEYS NAME!
GOOD FOR ISRAEL
GOOD FOR YIDDEN
GOOD FOR GETTING RUBASHKIN AND POLLARD OUT OF JAIL
please please PLEASE everyone sign the petition!!!!!!
– a friend in postville
I think the low number of views has to do with the length of the video. It may be difficult to get a million people to watch the full 10 minute clip.
I believe youtube doesnt count it as a view unless it is viewed in its entirety, (although they do somehow keep track of partial views as well)
it still shows that there were 305 views – that number has stayed the same for the last few hours! in fact, it shows 305 views, but there’s somehow 443 likes! somebody’s trying to slow down their progress!
hashem yerachem
I hate people who always cry antisemitism every time a jew is convicted. But this time, there is no other answer. The judge should spend 27 years in prison. During Aseres U’may Tshuva, I pray for justice for S M Rabushkin, may his yeshoua come quickly.
sholom mordichai rabashkin should be freed!, i donno why he is in jail to begin with??
they r trying to get 1000000 vceiws
Please pass this video along! All should see it!
I’m with you all the way in wanting SMR’s freedom and consider his punishment completely not befitting the crime. However, just so you know the loan was accomplished prior to the raid, not after! That shouldn’t change anything though, there’s no justification for 27 for at best, an improper loan.
BTW, a good friend of mine donated 100k (100 thousand) towards SMR’s defense fund. Shanah Tova!
This article should include that fact that he was FIRST raided — and THEN, after they closed down his business, he applied for the loan.
NONE of the immigration laws were proven to be broken — and he wouldn’t have needed a loan if he were allowed to be doing is business as usual, without the raid!
Wow! This is incredibly disturbing. Aside from the fact its one of us being wronged, How scary is this that it could happen to anyone!?
Please “LIKE” the video!!!
http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-the-supreme-court-rein-in-over-sentencing-prosecutorial-power
SHARE WITH ALL YOU FRIENDS!
DONT FORGET TO “LIKE”