UM Grace Case

Wednesday morning, the prosecution packaged its entire case into three hours for the jury, connecting specific evidence with each of the eight counts against W.R. Grace and the remaining three defendants. Government attorney Kris McLean covered the conspiracy count, followed by attorney Kevin Cassidy outlining the remaining counts of knowing endangerment and obstruction of [...]

During the past week, Judge Donald Molloy dismissed two defendants, ruled on two critical motions and revealed a deadline for his ruling on another.
The prosecution said that they didn’t have enough evidence to prove their case against Robert Walsh on April 27 and defendant William McCaig on April 30. Three defendants remain to face the [...]

The first full day of hearing the defendants’ case began without a ruling on motions to acquit or to dismiss the charges against any individual defendants.
Before the jury entered the room, defense attorney Thomas Frongillo asked  Judge Donald Molloy to clarify his ruling on evidence related to the testimony of Robert Locke, a problematic [...]

Judge Donald Molloy ruled Tuesday morning that he would not dismiss the W.R. Grace case for alleged prosecutorial misconduct. The understated announcement came after the prosecution had completed its response to the arguments for dismissal or acquittal made by the defense  Monday.
Molloy also ruled that Robert Locke, the former Grace executive who was a [...]

A juror required a wake-up call from the court this morning, and it’s possible that the prosecution has finally received theirs. Government attorney Kris McLean said that they had considered some defense objections, reshuffled their witness list and would probably wrap up their case by Tuesday.  
Court was delayed for almost an hour because a juror [...]

By the end of Monday, the tables had turned, and it was the defense alleging a cover up, accusing prosecutors of coaching and otherwise influencing witnesses.
Without the jury present, three of the defense attorneys asked Judge Donald Molloy to become a referee and force the prosecution to divulge a wide array of documents showing [...]

The list of contested witness testimonies that Judge Donald Molloy must consider continues to grow. This morning’s rapid questioning added two more to the two contested last night by the defense.
Molloy began the morning listening to the wrangling of prosecutor Kris McLean and defense attorney David Bernick over the admissibility of various testimonies. Last night, Bernick submitted [...]

 Static crackling through the court sound system brought to a premature close questioning of Steve Venuti by the prosecution. Venuti is an industrial hygienist and was a toxicology coordinator for W.R. Grace back in the 1980s.
Government prosecutor Kris McLean attempted to introduce one long document containing eight internal Grace letters written between 1987 and 1988. However, the [...]

Robert Locke was not allowed to include in his testimony the contested evidence consisting of memos discussing Monokote 5 and 6 and the summaries of Grace meetings from July 1 and 2, 1986. Judge Donald Molloy started the day with his ruling, and Locke took the stand with what evidence Molloy did allow.
Continually clearing his [...]

If the cat isn’t out of the bag by now, there may not be enough cat left to release. 
In the late afternoon session, Judge Donald Molloy heard more objections from the defense about evidence the prosecution wants to support their conspiracy charge. The prosecution said the exhibits show the defendants didn’t want to let the [...]