W.R. Grace Trial: Did the Prosecution Blow It?
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
The postmortems of the W.R. Grace trial are ongoing. How did the prosecution lose? One theory is that the prosecutors simply did a poor job of prosecuting.
For those who tuned in late —federal prosecutors charged that mining operations by the W.R. Grace Company spread deadly asbestos fibers throughout Libby, Montana, resulting in 2,000 cases of illness and about 225 deaths in and around the community. Exposure to asbestos causes mesothelioma and a host of other deadly diseases. However, on May 8 a jury acquitted Grace and three former executives of all criminal charges.
Writing for Crosscut Public Media, Joan McCarter says the federal prosecutors in the Grace criminal trial were in way over their heads. “Prosecutorial ineptitude and politicization seems to have been the norm for the Bush Justice Department, and it seems that they didn’t send the A team to prosecute this one,” McCarter writes.
A New York Times report by Kirk Johnson appears to blame the prosecution also. Published April 27, 2009, the article describes contrite federal prosecutors facing an angry Judge Donald W. Molloy. Johnson quotes Tim Racicot, an assistant United States attorney: “The truth of the matter is that we just dropped the ball.”
Judge Molloy said one of the prosecution’s star witnesses “came as close as I would ever want to see to perjury." The prosecutors also were accused of repeatedly violating court orders to turn over evidence favorable to the defense.
“Justice hasn’t been done for the people of Libby, though there’s a bit of hope that it will be in the pending civil trial,” McCarter writes.
May 13, 2009
Barbara O’Brien
May 14th, 2009 at 11:19 am
[...] « W.R. Grace Trial: Did the Prosecution Blow It? [...]
June 20th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
[...] days after the W.R. Grace verdict there appears to be plenty of blame to go around. Some fault the prosecutors. But Canda Harbaugh writes for The Western News that some Libby residents are angry at the judge, [...]
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
[...] month three W.R. Grace executives were acquitted of charges that they knowingly released asbestos into the community. Cornelia Dean writes in the New York [...]