Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A former peanut company executive serving a 28-year prison sentence won't have to pay money to victims of a deadly salmonella outbreak linked to his Georgia plant.
A federal judge decided Wednesday to spare former Peanut Corporation of America owner Stewart Parnell and three co-defendants from paying restitution to corporate customers and the families of hundreds who got sick after eating tainted peanut butter in 2008 and 2009. The outbreak was blamed for nine deaths.
U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands ruled victim loss estimates by prosecutors were invalid because they were based on civil claims and included costs that can't be recovered in a criminal case.
The prison sentence Parnell received last September was the harshest criminal penalty ever for a U.S. producer in a food-borne illness case.
Three deaths linked to the outbreak occurred in Minnesota, two in Ohio, two in Virginia, one in Idaho and one in North Carolina.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
