Jurors Who Acquitted Him Speak in Support of Organic Farmer Vernon Hershberger

Wisconsin State Journal
By Rob Schultz

ROCK SPRINGS – One of the jurors who found a Loganville farmer not guilty on three of four counts that he operated an illegal raw milk operation told an audience here Tuesday night that she was so moved by the experience she now wants to be a part of the operation.

“I want to join that buyer’s club, I feel very passionate about it,” said Michele Bollfrass-Hopp, 51, of Merrimac, who spoke to a group of about 35 people at the Rock Springs Community Center.

Another juror, Kelly Winecke, said the trial proved to her that the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection needs to create new guidelines to protect farmers and consumers. “Make it their duty to let them know about safety and other concerns,” she said.

The two were members of the Sauk County jury in April that found organic farmer Vernon Hershberger not guilty of charges that he produced milk and operated a dairy plant without a license and illegally sold food in a retail establishment.

The jury found Hershberger guilty of violating a holding order placed on his products after a 2010 raid by state agents, and he was later sentenced by Sauk County judge Guy Reynolds to pay a fine of $1,500.

Hershberger, 41, would have been found not guilty on all counts if the jury had been given fuller information regarding the holding order, Bollfrass-Hopp said. She added she was angry to learn after the trial that some key information was withheld from the jury by state prosecutors and Sauk County judge Guy Reynolds.

“I was making myself sick second-guessing myself for a week after the trial before I realized we did the best we could with what we had in front of us,” said Bollfrass-Hopp, who is a manager of a telecommunications company.

Reynolds instructed the jury to determine if Hershberger was guilty of violating the holding order, she said. Since Hershberger admitted that he violated it, she said the jury had to find him guilty.

“But we weren’t allowed to judge whether the holding order was valid,” Bollfrass-Hopp said. She added that since Hershberger was acquitted of the other charges that the state used as its basis for placing the holding order, the order itself should have been been a moot point. “You have to have common sense when you apply the law.”

Winecke told the audience, which included Hershberger and his wife, Erma, that she, too, was angered when she learned all the facts behind the holding order. “How can we make a decision when we can’t see all the evidence?” said Winecke, 46, of Rock Springs.

Bollfrass-Hopp said she and three other jurors wrote letters to Reynolds after the trial asking him to be lenient with his sentencing. She appeared at the sentencing and then introduced herself to Hershberger afterward and told him she wanted to visit his farm, she said.

“I have four young grandchildren,” she said. “My grandson (who is 9) works on an apple orchard in Wonewoc. It would be an awesome experience for them to see a real farm, meet nice people and try raw milk and see it as yogurt and see it as butter.”

Three other jurors – including two who wrote to Reynolds – told her they, too, want to join the buyers club, Bollfrass-Hopp said.

The state contended that Hershberger sold raw milk through an unlicensed retail establishment. But Hershberger argued the members of his buyer’s club were part owners of the farm and thus had legal rights to the raw milk.

The trial was about freedom, Bollfrass-Hopp said.

“That’s what it comes down to,” she said. “It was about our freedom to choose the food that goes into our mouths.”