Todd Acquits Perdue Of All Charges In Cruelty Case

By Benjamin L. Mook

Maryland Coast Dispatch
February 4, 2005

OCEAN CITY - A Washington, D.C.-based animal rights group this week questioned a move by Worcester County State's Attorney Joel Todd this week to override a court employee's decision to charge Perdue Farms with animal cruelty charges stemming from a hidden camera expose last year.

A professional dispute between the county's top law enforcement official and a District Court commissioner over the merits of pursuing criminal charges against Perdue was settled on Monday. On that day, in Ocean City District Court, Deputy State's Attorney Daniel Mumford said on the record that the state wished to "confess a verdict of not guilty," in the criminal case against Perdue Farms. The tactic is rarely used and essentially pre-empts a trial and is the equivalent of an acquittal of the defendant.

"This ends the case," Todd said on Wednesday. "And, on these facts, jeopardy has been attached and [Perdue Farms] can't be retried."

The move caught Compassion Over Killing (COK), the organization that filed the charges, flat-footed. Representatives expressed concern that they now would not have their day in court to challenge Perdue on its practices.

"In essence, the state intervened and prevented Perdue from ever having to go to court and be put in the spotlight to face these charges," COK General Counsel Carter Dillard said. "We are very disappointed that Mr. Todd chose this very unusual procedure."

Todd's decision came after he and Worcester County Sheriff Chuck Martin met with Dillard and Joshua Balk, the COK outreach coordinator, who worked on the processing line at Perdue's now defunct Showell plant earlier this month. Todd said after reviewing the evidence he did not feel criminal charges were called for.

"We all met and reviewed the tapes together," Todd said. "I felt the evidence lacked merit, and there was no probable cause that Perdue Farms was guilty of any crime based on the information provided to me. They committed no crime."

That did not prove to be the end of the case though as Balk and Dillard next met with Worcester County District Court Commissioner Earline Loomis. After speaking with Todd, the commissioner found that there was probable cause to issue a criminal summons to Perdue.

In Maryland's judiciary system, individuals can apply for charges and a commissioner decides if there is cause for the case to proceed to the next step, a preliminary inquiry.

"The state's attorneys do not direct the commissioners, they can decide if something needs to be issued," Mary E. Kinnamon, administrative clerk said. "A commissioner is not bound by the state's attorney's opinion whether or not to issue charges."

Based on a statement of charges, Balk worked the early morning crew at the plant for a two-week period in September 2004. According to court records, Balk highlighted some of the more egregious instances of cruelty he witnessed including one worker who spiked a live chicken like a football and another who spent his break slapping a chicken in the face. Additionally, he said there were times when workers threw chickens around the conveyor belt and saw multiple times where the animals missed the throat-cutting blades and were dumped live into the scalding tanks.

COK alleged that Perdue was guilty of animal cruelty because it provided no training to its workers for proper handling of the birds and the company's focus on processing speed above all. Dillard noted in a letter to Todd that Maryland law allows for criminal charges to be brought against a corporation, the same as an individual.

Todd said when he learned that the charges went through, he acted on his belief that criminal charges were unwarranted in the case. He said he asked Mumford to enter the acquittal prior to a preliminary inquiry.

Dillard said when he and COK learned of the move this week, their first response was that Perdue got off without having to face any of the accusations, even if the case was dropped later.
"It is odd that you can get an acquittal, without the defendant even having to appear in court," Dillard said. "This cut out the availability of public input, by moving the case to Ocean City and moving it up so it could be heard by the first available judge."

COK Campaign Director Erica Neier said this week that Todd's decision set a bad precedent about the accountability of agri-businesses when it came to farm animals.
"The bottom line is that this sends a message that in Worcester County, corporations, especially Perdue Farms, don't have to abide by Maryland's animal cruelty laws," Neier said. "So, companies can handle animals in any manner they see fit."

Dillard added that COK was not done with the case entirely. He said that while the criminal charges route is now closed, the organization is reviewing how the situation was handled.

"We are looking at the procedure that was used," Dillard said.