Column: After 4 years, Grace trial begins
At last, the W.R. Grace trial has arrived.
Sure, it was scheduled to start only with jury selection proceedings on Thursday morning in Missoula but in a process that has gone on for years, many Libby residents are curious to see what happens with this case. Still, others could care less.
The actual trial should begin early next week.
The trial of W.R. Grace & Co., and six executives (five in this trial, the sixth will be tried separately) has drawn nationwide media attention. Besides Montana news outlets and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer – whose reporter Andrew Schneider broke the story back in 1999 – the New York Times had a reporter asking questions around Libby this week.
Again, this small mountain community is garnering a lot of attention. That could be seen in two ways. Perhaps the coverage is good – it puts an important issue in the limelight so the American people are informed about what can happen and what Libby residents have endured. Or, maybe the attention is bad – Libby is trying to shed a negative image and move on to what hopefully will become a bright future.
Before the trial even began, Libby residents were appalled at pre-trial rulings from federal judge Donald Molloy. Last week, Molloy made the statement that “there are no crime victims identifiable” in the case against Grace.
No victims? I may be going out on a limb here but I’m betting that some Libby folks might have something to say about that statement.
The ruling was a setback for the prosecution because it means that Libby residents who are on the witness list for the United States cannot attend the trial. To interpret the ruling, the judge believes that the testimony of Libby witnesses could be “materially altered” after listening to other witnesses in the courtroom.
The prosecution made a motion to reverse the decision. Molloy did not budge on the issue and at last word, it was going to be appealed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week in an attempt to get Molloy’s ruling overturned. The prosecution said it plans to call 34 witnesses from Libby.
In another ruling from this past Friday, Molloy further restricted the prosecution by outlining what can and cannot be said during the opening argument as well as in what order the government calls witnesses.
The order also says the government “cannot mention either ‘victims’ or use the term ‘tremolite’ in reference to Libby amphibole during its opening.”
As far as local reaction, the one point that I hear more than any is that the money being spent on this trial could’ve gone to pay for things like cleaning up the town and health care for those who fell ill.
Will the outcome of the trial actually impact anyone here? Maybe but perhaps not – it depends on the point of view. Some folks simply want closure. Others believe that local Grace managers did not know of the risks and were also victims themselves.
As I mentioned, jury selection was scheduled to begin Thursday. The pool included 80 prospective jurors – one of those out of our own news office. Twelve jurors will be selected along with several alternate jurors.
Let the trial begin. Then, let it end … so Libby can get back to normalcy and move forward in a positive direction.
(Brad Fuqua is managing editor of The Western News. He can be reached at thewesternnews@gmail.com ).