Not Guilty Pleas Entered in Tyson Foods Case

Tyson Foods Inc. and six former managers pleaded not guilty to federal charges of conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants to work at the company's poultry plants.

A federal magistrate in Chattanooga told them to get ready for a February 2003 trial.

Tyson attorney Mark Hobson said a trial would not support prosecutors' contentions of a company conspiracy, but instead would show immigrant smuggling by government undercover agents.

A Dec. 11 indictment implicated 15 plants in Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia.