Making History: Six Strategic Trials

1 Trial Case Study #1, 2 & 3 United States of America v. Penn et al., Case No. 1:20-cr-00152 (D. Colo.) The government produced more than 16 million documents over the course of the case—emails, phone records, mobile-phone extractions, audio recordings, and others— and continued to flood the defendants with document productions throughout each of the three trials. To add to the difficulty, Mr. Penn’s former employer (Pilgrim’s Pride) entered into a plea agreement with the government in early 2021, and worked alongside the government to build the case against him and the other defendants. But the O’Melveny team overcame each challenge. By pioneering strategies to limit the impact of the government’s massive production, identifying and organizing key documents, methodically coopting or discrediting the government’s trial witnesses, and making innovative use of expert economic testimony in a criminal trial, the O’Melveny team paced the joint defense group through three trials to victory. Along the way, the O’Melveny team also spearheaded the joint defense group’s motion practice and won several important legal battles, involving the wording of jury instructions and the exclusion of several pivotal trial exhibits (including some the court had provisionally admitted). And throughout the winter, spring, and summer that they spent in Denver, O’Melveny’s integrated trial team of paralegals, staff attorneys, litigation vendors, associates, counsel, and partners worked relentlessly to position the client for his ultimate success. The Winning Strategy From the beginning, the odds were stacked against Jayson Penn, former Pilgrim’s Pride CEO, and the O’Melveny team. Michael Tubach SAN FRANCISCO Partner +1 415 984 8876 mtubach@omm.com Anna Pletcher SAN FRANCISCO Partner +1 415 984 8994 apletcher@omm.com TEAM REPRESENTATIVES

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