The WR Grace trial is a beauty. The Rove Racket went after this company for environmental crimes in regards to an asbestos mine owned by WR Grace in Libby, Montana. The mine closed in 1990.
Although environmental pollution is a horrible thing, what is worse is the prosecutorial misconduct in this trial by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kris McLean (the man on the far right of the photo, copyright Associated Press).
McLean intentionally withheld email evidence from the defense. The email evidence was an exchange with the government's supposedly star witness. Sounds similar to the prosecutorial misconduct in the Ted Stevens case.
The AP writes this morning:
McLean opened with an apology for earlier failing to give defense lawyers copies of e-mails relevant in the defense of Robert Bettachi, one of the former executives. "That was my mistake," McLean said. "My mistake caused an interruption in this trial." U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy had told jurors not to consider the testimony of Robert Locke, a key prosecution witness involved in the e-mail communications, when considering the charges against Bettachi. The judge told jurors Wednesday to regard Locke's testimony cautiously when weighing the cases of other defendants. Molloy has broadly criticized the prosecution, at one point telling federal attorneys they did not understand the evidence they were presenting. Last week he dismissed charges against two former executives, shrinking the number still on trial to three, but he refused to end the trial on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. Motions to acquit remain pending, and Molloy said Wednesday that he would not rule on them before the jury returns verdicts.
Can you believe the judge told the Rove Racket they didn't understand their OWN evidence?
With a botched trial and prosecutorial misconduct, Molloy should contact U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's office as soon as the case concludes.
Read more about the WR grace case here and here.
