The Prosecution
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana is responsible for prosecuting all criminal cases that involve the United States in Montana. The assistant U.S. attorneys in the Missoula office are responsible for prosecuting all of those cases that occur in the Missoula Division. Libby is in the Missoula division’s jurisdiction.
The Environmental Crimes Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice is responsible for prosecuting federal criminal cases involving violations of wildlife laws and federal pollution cases like the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, or, as is the case in U.S. v. Grace, the Clean Air Act.
These are the offices that will be representing the U.S. government in the prosecution of W.R. Grace and its executives or former employees who are co-defendents.
Attorneys for the U.S. government
Kris A. McLean, Assistant United States Attorney
Assistant U.S. Attorney’s Office
Kris McLean will serve as the lead government attorney in the prosecution of U.S. v. W.R. Grace and the five codefendants.
After the indictment against Grace was unsealed in 2005, Libby residents at a community meeting were told that McClean would represent the government’s case, that he was “the top environmental prosecuting attorney in the country.”
McLean works full time out of the Missoula office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana. He has 24 years of legal experience. McLean was admitted to the Montana State Bar in 1985.
Kevin M. Cassidy, Trial attorney
Justice Department Environmental Crimes Section
Kevin M. Cassidy is the trial attorney working along side Kris McLean in the prosecution of W.R. Grace and several of its employees.
Cassidy’s works with the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section in Washington, D.C. In 2006, he received the John Marshall Award for Support of Litigation from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for work related to the investigation and criminal prosecution of McWane Inc., and several of its employees.
The Justice Department called McWane and its co-defendants “the nation’s most egregious violators of environmental and worker safety laws.” The cast-iron pipe manufacturer was prosecuted in various federal courts in Alabama, New Jersey and elsewhere following a nationally coordinated series of investigations. The prosecutions included conspiracy to violate federal clean air and water regulations as well as obstruction of state and federal investigations.
Cassidy is a member of the Oregon State Bar.
– Kalie Tenenbaum