Change-of-plea hearing for ex-BP engineer in oil spill case
Source: Associated Press
Change-of-plea hearing for ex-BP engineer in oil spill case
Kevin Mcgill, Associated Press
Updated 7:07 pm, Thursday, November 5, 2015
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former BP engineer is set for a change-of-plea hearing Friday in federal court in New Orleans, where he has been fighting a charge that he obstructed an investigation into the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Kurt Mix was indicted in early 2012 on two criminal counts arising from allegations that he deleted text messages about the amount of oil that spewed into the Gulf after the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig explosion. He has been in an up-and-down legal battle ever since.
He was acquitted on one criminal charge in a 2013 trial. He was convicted on an obstruction of justice charge at that same trial, but he won a new trial because of juror misconduct: The jury forewoman told deadlocked fellow jurors that she had heard something that increased her confidence in voting guilty.
Mix again pleaded not guilty and a Nov. 30 trial date had been set. But court records show that a change-of-plea hearing is set for Friday morning, indicating some type of resolution of the case is near. His attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Change-of-plea-hearing-for-ex-BP-engineer-in-oil-6613985.php