James Draper was such a minor player in the beef plant case that I doubt few even know his name; yet, of all the folks involved, Draper is the one facing the longest sentence – and, if the government gets what it wants, his sentence will be even longer after the Halloween Day hearing. The Clarion-Ledger ran a brief update in today’s paper. h/t Phunk and Wagnalls
James Draper, convicted by a jury for his part in the Mississippi Beef Plant scandal, will be sentenced on Oct. 31. The government is asking Chief Judge Michael Mills to deal more harshly with Draper, a refrigerator salesman from Tennessee, than a pre-sentence report recommends.
Draper was convicted July 23 on two counts — aiding and abetting the interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud, and of money laundering — in bilking the state out of $187,725. The government filed a four-page motion Tuesday urging Mills to consider that Draper lied during his two-day trial in U.S. District Court.
Based on the charges against him, it would seem Draper had no information to trade for a lighter sentence – but there’s more to the story of this puzzling aspect of the beef plant case tan the charges against Draper suggest: Continue reading “A “fall” festival? Draper sentencing set in beef plant fiasco set for Halloween”