A former human resources employee at an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse where hundreds of illegal immigrants were caught in a raid last year has withdrawn her guilty plea to identity theft.
Laura Althouse's attorney filed a motion Monday to withdraw the plea after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that undocumented workers who use phony IDs can't be considered identity thieves unless they knew they were using ID numbers from real people.
A judge granted Althouse's motion Tuesday, and her attorney says that effectively dismisses the charge. Althouse still faces sentencing May 13 on a charge of conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville. U.S. attorney's spokesman Bob Teig declined to comment. |