Defense Fighting Conspiracy & Obstruction of Justice
This morning’s session began with the dismissal of Defendant McCaig. Now with reduced numbers of attorneys and support staff on the right side of the courtroom, the defense called Lawrence Dolezal.
Lawrence Dolezal took the stand today in this morning’s session for direct examination. Dolezal was on the board of County Commissioners for Lincoln County. Dolezal testified that the Board of County Commissioners was attempting to find another owner for the mine site.
Mr Dolezal revealed through testimony multiple letters were exchanged between the Board of County Commissioners and the executives at W.R. Grace. The County wanted the company’s information on the quality and content of the ore.
W.R. Grace responded with a letter dated September 12, 1990, which was admitted without objection as Defense Exhibit 16235. Written by Defendant Bettachi, the letter stated the market demand for vermiculite had dropped due to asbestos contamination. The resulting exchange with the witness attempted to prove that W.R. Grace was not trying to cover up the contamination at the mine site. The defense introduced letters written by Defendant Bettachi, all of which stated that the vermiculite was contaminated by tremolite. Further, Witness Dolezal was under no obligation to keep this information a secret.
The direct examination concluded with a note on a packet sent to prospective buyers of the mine site. The note, read into the Court’s transcript, stated that potential purchasers should be aware that the Libby vermiculite depository is contaminated with tremolite, which is classified as a hazardous substance by the EPA.
The defense used this evidence and testimony to argue that the contamination of the mine site was never a secret, neither hidden from the government nor the people in Libby.
Prosecuting attorney McLean had a brief, concise cross-examination. First, McLean established Dolezal never walked on the property of the Screening Plant while he was on the Board of County Commissioners. Next, Dolezal agreed that any efforts to sell the mine were unsuccessful.
Dolezal finished his testimony by agreeing that the disclosures of contamination only included the mine site, not the town of Libby. The defense objected on relevance and outside the scope of witness knowledge, but Judge Molloy overruled and allowed the testimony. Dolezal continued to testify that the Board of County Commissioners had no idea that the town was contaminated at the time. The Board thought the ore body contamination disclosures only related to the mine site. Dolezal testified that the issue of contamination in the town arose in 1998, just as he was leaving the board, and at that time, W.R. Grace had not disclosed this information to the Board.
The defense next called William Michael Corcoran. Defense attorney Bernick quickly went through the formalities by examining his background, qualifications, and current position with W.R. Grace. Corcoran is W.R. Grace’s current vice president of public and regulatory affairs. He also testified his professional experience since graduation from Georgetown University has constantly related to environmental matters.
Corcoran began testifying that W.R. Grace bought the stock of the Kootenai Development Corporation (KDC) in July of 2000, effectively regaining control of the mine sites. At the time, Defendant Wolter was one of the owners of KDC. Corcoran testified the sale took place with the knowledge and encouragement of the EPA. Corcoran testified W.R. Grace wanted to buy the mine site to simplify the clean-up process. Both the agency’s situation and the company’s situation would be easier if Grace bought back the site.
The testimony focused on access by the EPA of the site. Bernick introduced evidence that KDC initially denied access to EPA officials. However, the following introduced and admitted documents revealed that KDC consented to access for sampling. Corcoran testified that W.R. Grace did not obstruct justice because the company consented to EPA officials at the various sites.
The morning session finished with laughs, as Judge Molloy corrected Bernick on his wrong pronunciation of the name of former Montana governor Marc Racicot. Then-governor Racicot offered to personally mediate the access controversy between W.R. Grace and the EPA. Bernnick introduced two letters, where EPA refused the offer and W.R. Grace accepted.
The defense continues to fight the charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice with witness testimony. The defense argued again today that this big “secret” did not and does not exist. The defense also argued that the EPA had access to the contaminated sites and did not utilize that access because agency officials did not want to adhere to W.R. Grace’s limitations on access.
– By Maggie Braun (posted 1:30 p.m.)
Posted: April 30th, 2009 under Law.