UM Grace Case

 The defense continued its case this afternoon, as W.R. Grace attorney Walter Lancaster (no relation) examined geologist and former Grace employee, Eric Moeller. Moeller arrived in Missoula less than an hour before testifying, following a whirlwind trip from Germany, a trip which began earlier in the week when he learned that Grace wanted his testimony. [...]

Defense witness William M. Corcoran, Vice President of Public and Regulatory Affairs for W.R. Grace & Co., testified late Thursday morning under the direction of defense attorney Bernick.  Corcoran joined W.R. Grace & Co. in 1999 with the responsibility for environmental, health and safety, communications and governmental affairs.
Corcoran wrote an infamous letter, dated April [...]

This morning’s session began with the dismissal of Defendant McCaig.  Now with reduced numbers of attorneys and support staff on the right side of the courtroom, the defense called Lawrence Dolezal.
Lawrence Dolezal took the stand today in this morning’s session for direct examination.  Dolezal was on the board of County Commissioners for Lincoln County.  Dolezal [...]

W.R. Grace witness, Kathryn Coggon, testified Wednesday afternoon to all the efforts that were made to comply with government agencies.
Apparently, 2.5 million documents were needed for this criminal prosecution.  The agencies did not want to sit down with the company and communicate their questions, as is usually done, according to Coggon who is a specialist in this [...]

Yesterday, Judge Molloy ruled to not dismiss the case for prosecutorial misconduct. Law students Nick Lofing and Christopher Orman have been following the issue, studying the case law, and have written a brief article on Judge Molloy’s order. The order reveals Molloy’s views on the judicial process and provides remarkable insight into how he perceives [...]

Defense attorneys put 4 witnesses on the stand and introduced 14+ exhibits this morning to demonstrate how W.R. Grace acted to reduce dust and asbestos exposure at the Libby mine and mill over the years of its operation by Grace.
First was Randy Geiger, environmental engineer for Grace, who testified to Grace’s continuing and successful efforts [...]

Defense attorney Walter Lancaster continued questioning of former W.R. Grace employee Randy Geiger.  Mr. Geiger was in charge of pollution control and conducted air quality sampling at Libby from 1976 to the mid 1980s.  Mr. Lancaster’s questioning focused on how air samples were taken and the results of those tests.  A number of pollution control [...]

 Judge Donald Molloy prefaced Robert Locke’s cross examination this afternoon by admonishing the jury that none of Locke’s testimony could be used against defendant Bettacchi, and that all of his testimony should be viewed with skepticism.
Molloy then launched into a description of the U.S. Attorney’s job (to provide justice, not to win cases) and their obligations to disclose Brady and Giglio [...]

Tuesday morning started with Mr. McLean ’s address against the Defense arguments in favor of their Rule 29 motion. Judge Molloy indicated he had decided on a remedy for Mr. Locke’s testimony, but would wait until the end of Mr. McLean’s argument before ruling.
Mr. McLean spent the next 90 minutes establishing what the government had [...]

Judge Molloy greeted the jury after the morning recess, saying, “When I left last week it was spring, and now it’s winter again.  Good morning.”  Chuckles were heard throughout the courtroom and the jury box.  Molloy informed the jury that the case against Robert Walsh had been “disposed of” and the jury should not guess [...]