Cops and Courts

On Wednesday night, after absorbing 35 days of testimony and evidence, jurors seated in the environmental crimes trial of W.R. Grace & Co. were spirited away to a remote chamber in the Russell Smith federal courthouse to begin deliberations.

There they remained Thursday, hashing out the proof for the first time since Feb. 19, when the case against Grace and five former executives began. Since then, the cast of individual defendants has been winnowed to three, but the jury has for the most part remained static – just one alternate was called on to relieve a juror. They’ve been prohibited from discussing the case (even with one another) or following reports of the proceedings in the media, and likely have a lot to chew on.

Before receiving the case, the dedicated group of six men and six women heard an impromptu pep talk from U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy about the sanctity of the criminal justice system and the value of the jurors’ civic duty. Court marshals and bailiffs were then administered their oaths as officers of the court and, flanked by a librarian’s cart filled with bound documents, ushered the jurors out of the courtroom. Legal instructions were finalized, brain food was ordered, but what follows will take place out of the public’s purview.

Today, a few of us reporters kept vigil in the upstairs lobby of the courthouse, but a verdict still seems distant. Extrasolar, even. That’s pure speculation, of course – predicting a jury’s behavior is like reading tea leaves – but given the length of the trial and the complexity of the charges, this could take a while.

I spotted the prosecution team having burgers at the Missoula Club, and they seemed upbeat, but reticent to talk about anything pertaining to Grace – Molloy’s gag order is apparently still active. A pair of defense lawyers dropped by the courtroom to retrieve a forgotten power cord, but things were otherwise quiet.

A friend in the service industry told me that a sizable portion of the defense team enjoyed a few glasses of wine last night at the Red Bird, and they’re probably nursing a collective hangover in the many office spaces rented across town.

With the cloudy weather and all, being posted out at the courthouse wasn’t half bad. Andrea Peacock, the author of “Libby, Montana: Asbestos and the Deadly Silence of an American Corporation,” lay sprawled out on a couch with her laptop, while the venerable Andrew Schneider, who broke the Libby story 10 years ago for the now-defunct Seattle Post-Intelligencer, researched the finer points of Rule 29 motions – requests to Molloy from the defense team for a judgment of acquittal. Amy Linn, who’s been covering the case for Bloomberg, worked away on one of the upholstered chairs, and yours truly opted for a hard wooden bench along the wall, not for its ergonomic comfort, but because of its proximity to an electrical outlet (the battery on my laptop is toast).

It was a good day to stay inside and smell the furniture. Let’s hope the jurors feel the same way; they could be at it for a long time.

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