UM Grace Case

Kris McLean conceded what has been pounded home throughout the trial: It was no secret to the government that there was asbestos at the Libby mine or that asbestos was carcinogenic.  “The secret was in the products,” he said Wednesday.
One secret in this case, McLean said, was what only defendant W.R. Grace knew: “Despite reducing [...]

 Judge Molloy first ruled on the Government’s motion for admission of redacted exhibits.  See Motion.  These rulings are of importance to the Rule 29 motions because the government has signaled that unless the exhibits are admitted, it will drop the conspiracy charges as to defendants Walsh and McCaig.  See footnote 1, page 5 of Government’s [...]

At promptly 3:00 p.m., prosecutor Kevin Cassidy got to the main theme of his direct examination of Dr. Lemen. When Cassidy asked if he had an opinion about whether there was an imminent risk of exposure Dr. Lemen said yes. David Bernick promptly objected for lack of foundation, but the objection was overruled and Dr. [...]

A series of increasingly testy exchanges was eventually interrupted by a rebuke from Judge Donald Molloy, as defense attorney David Bernick cross-examined government witness Dr. Richard Lemen on Monday.
Bernick began by pointing out that Lemen was receiving $350 an hour for his testimony, $50 less than his usual rate.  Bernick characterized this as a “government [...]

Mr. Frongillo’s recross examination focused mostly on attacking the credibility of Dr. Miller’s testimony and the credibility of the documents he had helped prepare for the Government. Mr. Frongillo attempted to persuade the jury that the EPA’s decision to not show the jury all of its original documents was misleading. Mr. Frongillo pointed out [...]

Dr. Aubrey Miller, a toxicologist with the federal government, misled jurors and distorted evidence when he excluded certain information from Libby asbestos-contamination studies and documents, W.R. Grace attorneys argued in court Monday morning.
W.R. Grace lead attorney David M. Bernick and Thomas Frongillo, a defense attorney for Robert Bettacchi, attempted to demonstrate to the jury [...]

 The defense stressed that much of the asbestos exposure in Libby lead to “nonmalignant respiratory disease,” not cancer, citing Dr. Aubrey Miller’s previous internal notes to make this point.
Court resumed at 9 a.m. with the prosecution’s re-direct examination of Dr. Aubrey Miller, followed by a limited cross-examination by the defense.
The defense called Miller’s credibility into question a few times [...]

Kris A. McLean continued his redirect of examination of Dr. Aubrey Miller through the end of Thursday. The afternoon’s examination proceeded at a deliberate pace with nearly every one of McLean’s lines of questioning drawing an objection from various defense attorneys, primarily David Bernick. In response to one of Bernick’s more drawn out relevancy objections, [...]

 Defense counsel Thomas Frongillo concluded his cross-examination of Dr. Miller in a series of contentious exchanges that ironically emphasized Frongillo’s argument, but produced little relevant information for the jury’s record. Frongillo began his afternoon examination by attacking certain assumptions and conclusions Miller had made during his direct examination. Frongillo eased into his examination by moving [...]

Defense attorney Thomas Frongillo—representing Robert Bettacchi—continued to cross examine Dr. Aubrey Miller late this morning, Thursday, March 12.
Robert Bettacchi is charged with two counts of violating the Clean Air Act – Knowing Endangerment:
Robert Bettacchi . . . did knowingly release and caused to be released into the ambient air a hazardous air pollutant, namely, asbestos, [...]