Rubashkin cleared in child labor case, still faces sentencing in fraud case

After Monday's verdict, Rubashkin's defense attorney said his client had been "vindicated as a human being." According to AP reports, prosecutors had claimed Rubashkin, whose father owned the slaughterhouse, knowingly employed underage workers, exposed them to dangerous chemicals, allowed them to operate power machinery and allowed them to work more time per day and per week than is legal.

A total of 26 employees from Guatemale and Mexico testified that they worked at the Agriprocessors plant as teenagers and were hired after providing false documents stating they were older. The defense maintained the plant's hiring process was flawed and dysfunctional but Rubashkin didn't knowingly hire minors. Defense attorney F. Montgomery Brown said the jury's verdict was "a flat-out vindication that this man did not want young people in his father's plant."