The campaign to free Sholom Rubashkin was renewed in recent days.
Rubashkin, the former chief executive officer of Agriprossers, which was the largest kosher meat producer in the US, is currently serving the seventh year of a 27 year prison sentence.
Rubashkin's lawyers appealed the harsh sentence last week, arguing that new evidence shows that the sentence was unjust.
According to his lawyers, the new evidence shows that Rubashkin's civil rights were unlawfully denied by the plaintiffs. They also claimed that the prosecutors at Rubashkin's trial concealed evidence that could prove Rubashkin's innocence.
In January, Judge Linda Reade denied Rubashkin's motion to be re-sentenced, and even went as far as to take the unusual step of denying Rubashkin a “certificate of appealability,” which would allow him to make further appeals.
Rubashkin's lawyers asked the board of appeals to grant the certificate in their current motion. They argued that the prosecution knowingly submitted testimony which they knew to be false and suppressed evidence favorable to the defendant, both of which are illegal by definition under US law.