Trial will remain in Missoula
The Associated Press and The Daily Inter Lake
MISSOULA - On the eve of jury selection in the federal criminal trial against W.R. Grace & Co., the judge Wednesday denied a request by defendants to file a motion for change of venue.
The Grace defendants - six top executives accused of intentionally keeping secret numerous studies about the toxicity of asbestos dust - filed a motion Tuesday asking U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy's permission to file a request to move the trial out of Missoula.
The motion apparently was sparked by a series of articles in the Missoulian newspaper this week about the Libby asbestos saga and the upcoming trial.
Libby has been in the national limelight for a decade as the community has coped with the aftermath of widespread asbestos exposure from the former Grace vermiculite mine that closed in 1990.
"Now on the eve of jury selection, inflammatory pretrial publicity has saturated the community in which the court intends to conduct the trial in this case, jeopardizing the defendants' Fifth and Sixth Amendment right to trial by an impartial jury and necessitating a change of venue," defendants said in their motion Tuesday.
Molloy on Wednesday denied the request 'subject to renewal in the event that a fair and impartial jury cannot be seated."
The trial is to begin with jury selection today.
The case involves public exposure to asbestos that has killed hundreds and sickened thousands in the Libby area, where Grace used to operate a vermiculite mine.
Molloy had earlier denied a September 2005 request by defendants to move the trial. He said at the time that the "widespread, inflammatory pretrial publicity" claimed by the defendants had occurred years earlier and its impact had dissipated.
Testimony in the Grace trial is expected to begin Monday. Molloy has ruled that people from Libby on the federal prosecutors' list of defendants will not be allowed in court except to testify, on the theory that hearing the testimony of others might improperly influence some witnesses.
Molloy also raised eyebrows when he ruled earlier that "there are no crime victims identifiable" in the federal case against Grace.
"That is an outrageous and mind-boggling statement," Dr. Brad Black, who heads Libby's medical clinic for asbestos victims, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which reported Molloy's statement. The Libby clinic currently has more than 2,400 patients with asbestos disease and is adding about 20 new patients each month, Black told the U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee last fall.
Grace and seven executives were named in a 10-count indictment in 2005 and charged with conspiracy, federal Clean Air Act violations, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. All pleaded not guilty.
Those charged include senior vice president Robert Bettacchi, former director of health Henry Eschenbach, assistant secretary and chief group counsel Mario Favorito, former general manager of operations William McCaig, former senior vice president Robert Walsh and former vice president of mining and engineering Jack Wolter.
A seventh defendant, former mine supervisor Alan Stringer, died of cancer two years ago.
Grace has categorically denied any criminal wrongdoing and company officials have said the company intends to vigorously defend itself at trial.
By mid-2008 Grace had spent $90 million on the criminal case, including an estimated $10 million to $15 million to secure expert witnesses.
Cleanup of asbestos in Libby has been under way for several years. Roughly $200 million has been spent to clean up more than 1,000 properties in the Libby area.
A public-health emergency declaration to handle the asbestos crisis in Libby was scrapped seven years ago because the federal government feared it could spur costly asbestos cleanup across the country.
A 50-page report detailing an investigation about the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to declare a public health emergency in Libby, plus a trail of e-mails incriminating federal agencies was released in September 2008 by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
The documents show top EPA officials were prepared to declare a public-health emergency in Libby, but in April 2002 - around the same time they met with the White House - they changed their minds.