Former BP Engineer Cleared of Obstruction of Justice Charges in Deepwater

“The resolution of this case is a vindication of Kurt Mix and an acknowledgement by the Department of Justice that Kurt never acted to obstruct justice”, said his lawyer, Joan McPhee. Mix was granted a new trial, and on Friday he entered a guilty plea to a reduced misdemeanor charge of intentionally causing damage without authorization to a protected computer. Prosecutors are recommending probation.

Prosecutors accused Mix of deleting hundreds of text and voice messages that may have proven BP lied about how much oil was leaking into the gulf in what became the worst offshore environmental disaster in US history. In December 2013, a jury cleared Mix of one obstruction of justice charge, and the DOJ has now dropped the second charge. But he won a new trial on that conviction because of juror misconduct.

While more criminal arrests are expected, the indictment against Mix – a mid-level engineer who had his pulse on how much oil was blowing out of the compromised well a mile below the Gulf of Mexico – has the earmarks of a common prosecutorial tactic in corporate cases: Single out a weak link in a company’s armor and put pressure on that person to testify on the government’s behalf.

Outside the courthouse, Mix said he had done nothing wrong.

Today’s announcement was the culmination of a lengthy investigation and prosecution initiated by the Justice Department in the summer of 2011. It comes after Kurt Mix pleaded guilty to deleting emails that his attorney said had nothing to do with the BP spill. City marshals initially said they were trying to serve a warrant when Few fled down a one-way street, and officers fired when he tried to back his vehicle toward them.

In November of 2012, federal authorities and BP announced a settlement of criminal cases arising from the explosion, the resulting deaths of 11 rig workers, and the aftermath.

BP’s top supervisors on the rig when it exploded are set for trial next year, although they will face fewer charges than they did when first indicted in 2012.

Mix stated, “I’m thankful that the Department of Justice has finally acknowledged that I did not engage in any act to obstruct justice”.