UM Grace Case

The case against W.R. Grace and five of its former executives – now excluding William McCaig and Robert Walsh who were recently acquitted – was handed over to the jury Wednesday evening after nearly 10 hours of closing arguments from five separate attorneys. The trial, which began on Feb. 19, has been ongoing for nearly [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Bettacchi’s defense was in full force today as witnesses were called to demonstrate Grace’s complete transparency regarding the health risks of the Libby property that was sold or transferred after the closure of the mine.
The first witness of the morning, former Libby city attorney Mark Fennessey, testified to the environmental concerns the city had [...]

Attorneys representing Robert Bettacchi called several witnesses Tuesday morning in order to discuss the export plant that W.R. Grace & Co. donated to the city of Libby, and Mel Parker’s purchase of the screening plant from Grace.
Thomas Frongillo, representing Robert Bettacchi, said that Parker was called to testify again because additional information had surfaced [...]

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 [...]

Day in and day out, the court heard testimony from government witness and former Grace employee Robert Locke this week, only to see Locke accused of perjury on what was to be his last day under cross-examination.  Court is now in recess for a full week as Judge Donald Molloy considers striking all or some [...]

 The government called Lerah Parker to the stand with Kris McLean conducting the direct examination. McLean started by asking about the Parkers’ nursery business and how they came to buy the screening plant from Grace for their nursery. He asked Lerah to explain how the Parkers used the different parts of the property in their [...]

After the lunch break, Dr. Alan Whitehouse resumed his direct examination, answering questions from Assistant United States Attorney Kris McLean. Initially, Dr. Whitehouse took the jury through a biology lesson, explaining the functioning of the lung and the progression of asbestos-related diseases. According to Dr. Whitehouse, exposure to asbestos is akin to “inhaling a [...]

The questioning of Lerah Parker took up the remainder of the morning’s session, with just a glimpse of testimony yet to come from Dr. Alan Whitehouse. Parker’s questioning went much more smoothly than that of her husband, with few objections from the defense.
Parker entered the courtroom for her testimony with some obvious trepidation. A [...]