Stewart Parnell is currently serving an 18-year sentence in the Hazelton Federal Prison in West Virginia for his role in the extensive Salmonella outbreak caused by the Peanut Corporation of America.  As the CEO he was found guilty in September 2014 and has waged a rearguard legal battle since this time.  His October 2014 petition for retrial based on alleged juror misconduct and prejudice was rejected.  Following sentencing in September 2015 an appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. 

In September 2019 Parnell petitioned on the basis that he was deprived of his Sixth Amendment rights by the incompetence of his counsel.  Parnell claims that the verdict was influenced by his trial counsel failing to petition the Court for a change in venue and failing to disqualify jurors who had heard of the outbreak.

The Department of Justice maintains that the verdict was free of juror bias since Stewart Parnell and his brother were found not guilty on some of the counts. The DOJ notes that the trial was held five years after the outbreak.