Grace and three former executives - Robert Bettacchi, Jack Wolter and Henry Eschenbach - were acquitted of charges relating to a federal conspiracy involving Clean Air Act violations and obstruction of justice. An eight-count indictment alleged that the company and its top employees knowingly endangered the community of Libby by mining asbestos-laced ore, and that they did so in violation of federal law.
“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.
The jury of six men and six women received the case Wednesday evening and reached their unanimous verdicts Friday morning. They faced the onerous task of interpreting evidence and testimony presented over 35 days of trial, as well as determining whether the alleged crimes conduct occurred within an applicable time frame.
“This is the longest trial that I have been involved in,” said U.S. District 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.”
As the trial drew to a close, charges against 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, an in-house lawyer for Grace, is scheduled to stand trial in September, though it is unlikely the prosecution will go forward.
Members of the prosecution team declined to comment, however, saying Molloy’s gag order prohibiting lawyers from discussing the case was still in effect because Favorito’s case is not disposed of.
“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.
Some courtroom observers and legal experts say the government faced an uphill battle from the beginning.
David Uhlmann, a former chief of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and an early architect of the case against Grace, said the prosecution’s case was further compromised by court rulings limiting the amount of evidence admissible at trial, and restricting the scope of some witnesses’ testimony.
“Everyone involved should respect the jury and their verdict. The jurors gave 10 1/2 weeks of their lives, and performed an essential public service in hearing and deciding the case based on the evidence before them,” said Uhlmann, now director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program at the University of Michigan. “It’s unfortunate that so much evidence was withheld from the jury by the district court’s evidentiary rulings, including some of the most compelling internal memos written by W.R. Grace officials about the harmful effects of their mining operations. It’s also hard to know how much the jury was influenced by the district court’s hostility to the government’s case. But it was always going to be a difficult and hard fought trial. While the outcome is disappointing, the only tragedy in this case is what happened to the town of Libby, Montana.”
But defense lawyers said the evidence never substantiated the charges, and accused prosecutors of cherry picking only those documents that supported their case, and piecing together an incomplete and fractional account of what occurred in Libby.
“When you pull 15 to 25 documents out of two-and-a-half million, and then try to allege there was a conspiracy, that just does not cut it,” said Bernick, calling the trial a “truth-seeking process.”
Attorney Thomas Frongillo, who represented Bettacchi at trial, said he believed the proof was inadequate since 2005, when the indictment was first unsealed against Grace and what began as seven defendants.
“I was optimistic that, if we were given a fair, thorough trial, my client and all of the defendants would be acquitted on all counts,” Frongillo said. “For those of us who have lived with this case and all of the evidence for the past four years, this is the outcome we expected, and it’s the right outcome.”
In Libby, reaction to the verdict was immediate and intense.
“Absolutely unbelievable,” were the first words from Gayla Benefield, a lifetime Libby resident whose mother died of asbestosis. “Well, I guess you’ve got to live with it.”
Benefield said she and some other trial-watchers were planning to leave for Missoula Friday afternoon, expecting the jury would return sometime over the weekend. She said she was now concerned that W.R. Grace & Co. might try to deny further medical claims, because the jury said they weren’t guilty.
“I’m really disappointed in the jury; they didn’t take the time to consider their responsibility,” Benefield said. “The federal government wouldn’t have filed the case if they hadn’t felt strongly those rules were broken.
“I think the prosecutors did to best of their ability. The judge himself was absolutely not in our favor. I hold the judge responsible for a lot of this.”
Libby resident Bob Dedrick, 78, said he wasn’t surprised.
“I figured that’s the way it would be,” he said Friday afternoon. “It’s kind of hard to beat that kind of money. I don’t think (Judge) Molloy did any help. You’re wasting your time. You’re not going to beat them. They’ve got endless power. They buy and sell politicians like we change socks. I don’t have no faith in the judicial system at all.”
Dedrick served on the Libby Community Advisory Committee for more than four years. He said the town was successful in getting help to clean up its asbestos contamination, but couldn’t do much for its sick residents or its future survival.
“If they (W.R. Grace) spent half the money they spent on their lobbyists and attorneys and politicians fighting this, they could have set up a real nice clinic and paid us and gone home with a lot of money in their pocket,” Dedrick said. “I guess the people here in Libby will end up taking up what they get.”
Asbestos contamination has been blamed for the deaths of about 200 Libby residents, and has sickened hundreds more.
The company has long, loudly and unequivocally denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that company officials were concerned about employees and their health and took what steps they believed were reasonable and appropriate at the time.
A barrage of contentious legal motions and federal court decisions derailed the criminal trial of W.R. Grace & Co. more than two years ago, but a Supreme Court decision in June 2008 cleared the way for a court date.
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Lance M wrote on May 8, 2009 7:03 PM:
" One can only hope there is a special place in hell for the Executives at Grace. "
Me wrote on May 8, 2009 11:04 PM:
" The crooks win again with their puppet Molloy. I wonder how much it took to pay him off? "
montanajim72 wrote on May 8, 2009 11:33 PM:
" I am so disgusted by this verdict. Once again, money seems to win. As for Molloy, (calling him a judge would be giving him credit), he tells the jury to give very little credit to one of the witnesses statements before they begin deliberations. I thought a judge was supposed to be impartial. This is a huge insult to the people of Montana. Molloy has now presided over Montana's own O.J. Simpson case. I have lost all faith in the justice system. "
nevermind wrote on May 8, 2009 11:52 PM:
" OVER 2000 Human beings dead and dying today from Libby. STOP LIEING ABOUT THE DEAD...course no one is dead and dying and WR Grace love you people of Libby.Love you all to death. "
Michael Dorsam wrote on May 9, 2009 7:04 AM:
" As a mid-level Grace manager for nearly 20 years, I can say that the public and lawyers believe in deep pockets, that Corporate America is corrupt and heartless, and how can they find fault and receive a settlement. Grace was not a perfect company. But on a day-to-day basis its thousands of employees earned more than a living wage, were paid strong benefits; and were protected beyond the government guidelines of NIOSA and OSHA. Certainly mistakes were made; but its time to move-on: you've already bankrupted Grace; and virtually stripped every employee of their retirement benefits (is this just)? But let's see: there's another Lawyer on the TV who wants to 'save' you ... "
Steve Bensing wrote on May 10, 2009 5:36 AM:
" In spite of the overwhelming power of federal prosecutors, this case shows that the legal system works. Fair and impartial jurors who examined the evidence determined that there was no conspiracy. People hear the word "asbestos" and presume that somebody did something wrong. It sounds to me like Grace acted responsibly and spent a lot of money to help people. Bob Dedrick made a point about the money spent by Grace on this case. It's too bad they had to spend so much money on this legal matter. We can only hope that this case gives lawyers pause when they think that they can get something from a company, just because it has "deep pockets". "
Judi wrote on May 8, 2009 5:49 PM: