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Article

28 Apr 2009

Author:
Kirk Johnson, New York Times

Judge Allows Asbestos Case to Continue [USA]

A federal judge on Tuesday said that despite the “failings” of federal prosecutors, he would not dismiss criminal charges against W. R. Grace, the big chemical products company, over the asbestos poisoning of the small town of Libby, Mont. The judge, Donald W. Molloy, also said he would not throw out the testimony of the prosecution’s star witness, Robert H. Locke, a former Grace executive who Judge Molloy has said lied on the witness stand. The judge allowed Mr. Locke to be recalled before the jury so defense lawyers might challenge the credibility of his testimony. And Judge Molloy himself took the first shot... Grace, which bought the mine in 1963 and closed it in 1990, was indicted in 2005 along with some of its former executives on charges that they knowingly released a hazardous air pollutant, then conspired to conceal their involvement or obstruct the government’s investigations.