Cops and Courts

David Bernick, lead counsel for W.R. Grace & Co., stands outside the Russell Smith federal courthouse on Friday, moments after a jury unanimously acquitted the global chemical company and three former executives. Photo by Michael Gallacher.

After deliberating one full day, jurors in the W.R. Grace & Co. trial unanimously acquitted the global chemical company and three former executives on Friday, ending the largest environmental crimes prosecution in United States history.

Grace and three individual defendants – Robert Bettacchi, Jack Wolter and Henry Eschenbach – were found not guilty of charges relating to a conspiracy involving Clean Air Act violations and obstruction of justice. The case began in 2005 when a federal grand jury handed down an unprecedented indictment, alleging a 30-year conspiracy to defraud the government and knowingly endanger the residents of Libby.

A mortality study at the Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby has identified 227 community members who are dead from asbestos disease, and lists more than 1,800 active cases resulting from exposure to the deadly fiber. The study also attributes scores of deaths to non-occupational asbestos exposures, and finds that 77 non-miners have died of asbestos disease since 1998.

“Nothing can erase the legacy of what happened many, many years ago in Libby. But the notion that the company for the last 30 years engaged in this criminal conduct is not grounded in fact,” said David Bernick, lead attorney for Grace, who has repeatedly called the prosecution a miscarriage of justice.

The jury of six men and six women received the criminal case Wednesday evening and reached their verdicts Friday morning. They faced the onerous task of interpreting evidence and testimony that was presented over the course of 35 days, as well as determining whether the alleged crimes conduct occurred within an applicable time frame. The criminal provision to the Clean Air Act, for example, wasn’t enacted until 1990, the same year the Libby mine ceased operations.

One juror, an employee at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, blotted her eyes with tissue as the court clerk read aloud the lengthy verdict form, while the defendants, who faced up to 15 years in prison, exchanged expressions of relief with their attorneys and spouses.

As the hard-fought trial drew to a close, charges against one-time employees William McCaig and Robert Walsh were dropped at the request of prosecutors, who conceded they lacked the evidence needed to convict the men. A sixth defendant, O. Mario Favorito, in-house legal counsel for Grace, is scheduled to stand trial in September, though it’s unlikely the prosecution will go forward given Friday’s verdict.

“This is the longest trial that I have been involved in,” said U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy, having first rapped his gavel Feb. 23 to commence the proceedings. “It is, I think, truly a reflection of how we are supposed to govern ourselves. Ultimately, it is the people of the community who have to make a decision. This is a case in which very few people know all of the evidence, and you do. We appreciate your service.”

Members of the prosecution team declined to comment, saying Molloy’s long-standing gag order prohibited them from discussing the case. Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the order remained active because Favorito’s case has not been dismissed.

“The Jury has spoken, and we thank them for their service. We are refraining from further comment at this juncture because one individual awaits trial in connection with this case,” according to a joint statement released by the Montana U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Environmental Natural Resources Division.

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