Posted by John Lamb
#FreeSamGirod
Please share and sign the petition at the end of this article.
Please share and sign the petition at the end of this article.
‘I am innocent.’ Imprisoned Kentucky Amish man seeks pardon from President Trump
BY GREG KOCHER
gkocher1@herald-leader.com
gkocher1@herald-leader.com
November 14, 2018
Updated November 15th 2018
The Kentucky Amish farmer serving a federal sentence for mislabeling herbal health products now seeks a pardon from President Donald Trump.
Samuel Girod has filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Justice pardon attorney. Girod, 58, is serving time at the satellite camp of the Federal Correctional Institution, Ashland, a minimum security prison. He was sentenced to six years but his scheduled release is early April 2022, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The petition is listed online as seeking a commutation or reduction of sentence, but the application indicates that Girod seeks a pardon.
Samuel Girod has filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Justice pardon attorney. Girod, 58, is serving time at the satellite camp of the Federal Correctional Institution, Ashland, a minimum security prison. He was sentenced to six years but his scheduled release is early April 2022, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The petition is listed online as seeking a commutation or reduction of sentence, but the application indicates that Girod seeks a pardon.
Girod, a member of the Old Order Amish faith, was sentenced in June 2017 for obstructing a federal agency and selling herbal health products that were not labeled as required by federal law.
“The court system is seriously broken in Lexington, Ky.,” Girod wrote in his application, a copy of which was mailed to the Lexington Herald-Leader. The website for the U.S. pardon attorney confirmed that it had received Girod’s application.
“The court system is seriously broken in Lexington, Ky.,” Girod wrote in his application, a copy of which was mailed to the Lexington Herald-Leader. The website for the U.S. pardon attorney confirmed that it had received Girod’s application.
Girod was convicted in March 2017 on 13 charges, including threatening a person in an attempt to stop him from providing information to a grand jury. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction earlier this year.
Nevertheless, Girod wrote in the application, “I am innocent. My intentions and my actions has always been to help others.”
In a June letter addressed to President Trump included in the mailing to the Herald-Leader, Girod wrote, “As Amish, we live a simple life and would never knowingly break any law(s) of this great nation. … I represented myself and never had the full understanding as to the consequences.
“President Trump, thank you in advance for reviewing my case. I look forward to being reunited with family shortly.”
Girod became a cause for some who saw him as a victim of the federal government. About 75 supporters of Girod, including many Amish, gathered near the federal courthouse in downtown Lexington before and after his sentencing.
Nevertheless, Girod wrote in the application, “I am innocent. My intentions and my actions has always been to help others.”
In a June letter addressed to President Trump included in the mailing to the Herald-Leader, Girod wrote, “As Amish, we live a simple life and would never knowingly break any law(s) of this great nation. … I represented myself and never had the full understanding as to the consequences.
“President Trump, thank you in advance for reviewing my case. I look forward to being reunited with family shortly.”
Girod became a cause for some who saw him as a victim of the federal government. About 75 supporters of Girod, including many Amish, gathered near the federal courthouse in downtown Lexington before and after his sentencing.
Girod operated a business in Bath County that made products to be used for skin disorders, sinus infections and cancer.
One product called TO-MOR-GONE contained an extract of bloodroot that had a caustic, corrosive effect on human skin, according to an indictment.
A Missouri federal court had barred Girod from distributing the products until he met certain conditions, including letting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspect his business. But when two agents tried to inspect the plant in November 2013, Girod and others blocked them and made them leave, the indictment charged.
Federal prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Girod knowingly and intentionally sold mislabeled products to customers and did not tell any of them about the injunction.
At trial, customers testified that they would not have purchased his products if they had known about the injunction. Girod argued that his products were not subject to the FDA because they were herbal remedies, not drugs.
One product called TO-MOR-GONE contained an extract of bloodroot that had a caustic, corrosive effect on human skin, according to an indictment.
A Missouri federal court had barred Girod from distributing the products until he met certain conditions, including letting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspect his business. But when two agents tried to inspect the plant in November 2013, Girod and others blocked them and made them leave, the indictment charged.
Federal prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Girod knowingly and intentionally sold mislabeled products to customers and did not tell any of them about the injunction.
At trial, customers testified that they would not have purchased his products if they had known about the injunction. Girod argued that his products were not subject to the FDA because they were herbal remedies, not drugs.
Rev. Alan Hoyle, a spokesman for a group of Amish people from Bath Co., defends Amish salve maker Samuel A Girod, who faces federal prison time for selling improperly labeled salve on June 20, 2017, in Frankfort, Ky. Hoyle is not a member of the Amish
By Jack Brammer
He also argued that requiring FDA approval of his products infringed on his religious freedom. Old Order Amish seek to insulate themselves from the modern world, including modern pharmaceuticals.
Since taking office in 2017, President Trump has issued seven pardons and four commutations, according to the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Trump has also denied 82 requests for pardons and 98 requests for commutations.
Since taking office in 2017, President Trump has issued seven pardons and four commutations, according to the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Trump has also denied 82 requests for pardons and 98 requests for commutations.
Please share and click the link below to sign the petition to pardon Samuel Girod.
#FreeSamGirod
By Sally Oh on March 1, 2017 | Comments 2 | Affiliate Disclosure
Here’s a video explaining the entire thing, transcript with links below.
Let’s be clear about a couple of pertinent facts:
1. The FDA made up arbitrary rules, then accused Sam of breaking those rules.
2. There are no victims. Samuel Girod has hurt no one.
3. FDA-approved pharmaceutical drugs kill 1 person every 19 minutes. Merck’s FDA-approved Vioxx killed over 68,000 people. Nobody in Big Pharma goes to jail. They pay out billions in fines (after making billions in profits.) No companies close, nobody goes to jail. Nobody. Even after killing and harming 100s of thousands of people.
4. Sam Girod and his products have hurt no one.
The Story of the FDA v Samuel Girod
Samuel Girod and his family have been making and selling 3 all-natural herbal products for nearly 20 years. In all those years, one woman had a bad reaction to a salve (which Sam made right and the woman was fine).
No one has ever been harmed by the products, the Girods have pages of testimonials and scores of repeat customers.
The 3 products are: Original Chickweed, a beeswax, essential oils and olive oil salve; Sine-Eze, a blend of essential oils; and To-Mor-Gone, an herbal bloodroot product in a base of beeswax and olive oil aka “black salve”.
All of these products are currently ALSO made and sold online worldwide (including on Amazon) by other people using these same basic ingredients. The recipes are online as well, you can make them in your kitchen.
HOW IT STARTED
Sixteen years ago, in 2001, an FDA agent visited Sam at his home in IN and informed Sam that he could not claim his products could help skin cancer. At that time, the chickweed salve label said: “[g]ood for all skin disorders. Skin cancer, cuts, burns, draws, and poison ivy.”
According to the FDA, when you make a medical claim about a product, that means the product is a “drug. Therefore you have to do years of testing, costing millions of dollars to prove the claim.
Sam had to change his label or do the testing.
So Sam changed the label, removing the reference to skin cancer.
He asked the agent to get back to him on what label would be acceptable to the FDA. The agent said she would within three weeks but she never did.
The label now said, “[g]ood for skin disorders. Dry skin, cuts, burns, draws, and poison ivy.” No skin cancer reference.
Between 2001 and 2004, Sam was visited several times by FDA agents. When he asked the agents what was acceptable on the label, none would give
an answer.
an answer.
Sam did not receive any further communication from the FDA until 2012.
In Jan 2012, someone called the FDA and reported that a store in MO was selling Chickweed Healing Salve and that medical claims were being made.
The FDA confiscated the products from the store and opened #Case 4:12-cv-00362-GAF on Sam. You will find a link to the complaint and a link to Sam’s answer in the transcript below.
This is the complaint: http://bit.ly/27-on-120928-Girod-Amended-Complaint
This is Sam’s answer to the complaint: http://bit.ly/37-on-121228-Girod-Answer-Defenses
In fact, here are all the court documents on Sam’s entire case. There are two folders: the 1st is for the labeling, the 2nd is for the criminal indictment.
PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK TO THE FULL STORY!
