Govt.’s Feeding Our Future Trials: Flawed Testimony And Misleading Analysis

By Zara Frost  Photos: YouTube Screenshots The testimony in the first Feeding Our Future trial, particularly regarding allegedly fraudulent meal rosters, is profoundly flawed and introduced unfair prejudice against the defendants. The government’s approach relies on questionable comparisons and assumptions that fail to reflect the realities of the pandemic and the emergency food distribution system. Let’s explain why this testimony is not probative of wrongdoing and instead misleads the jury. Comparing School Rosters to Meal Rosters: A Misguided Metric One of the government’s main arguments centers on comparing meal site rosters to local school attendance records. IRS Special Agent Joshua Parks testified that names on the food site rosters didn’t match students enrolled in nearby schools. But this comparison makes no sense in the context of the pandemic. The meal sites were “open” during COVID-19, meaning families could pick up food from any location, not just the one nearest their home or their child’s school. There were no geographical restrictions. During the pandemic, the United States Department of Agriculture intentionally expanded access to ensure families could get food regardless of where they lived or whether their children attended local schools. So, the fact that names on the rosters don’t match...