Defendant Park, the president of a national food-chain corporation, was charged, along with the corporation, with violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by allowing food in the warehouse to be exposed to rodent contamination. Park had conceded that he was responsible for the sanitary conditions as part of his responsibility for the “entire operation,” but claimed that he had turned the responsibility for sanitation over to dependable subordinates. He admitted at the trial that he had received a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration regarding the unsanitary conditions at one of the company’s warehouses.

1. What key fact was very important to the Court in its determination of Park’s guilt?

Clue: Think again about the Court’s guiding principle in this case.You want to identify the key fact that allowed the Court to apply the principle to this particular case.

2. Precedent plays a crucial role in the Court’s reasoning and, thus, in its decision.What key precedent in criminal law did the Dotterweich decision dispense with, thereby clearing the way for the guiding principle discussed previously to take on greater significance and make conviction in the present case possible?

Clue: Reread the section in which Justice Burger discusses the Dotterweich decision.