November retrial date expected for former BP engineer

Published 3:00 pm Friday, July 31, 2015

By Staff Reports

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange speaks about a state settlement with BP for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Thursday, July 2, 2015, at the Capitol building in Montgomery, Ala. BP and five Gulf states announced an $18.7 billion settlement Thursday that resolves years of legal fighting over the environmental and economic damage done by the energy giant’s oil spill in 2010. The settlement also involves Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. (Albert Cesare/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Attorneys are eyeing a November retrial date for Kurt Mix, the former BP engineer charged with obstructing a federal investigation into the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Court papers filed Thursday show attorneys are working toward a Nov. 16 date but may seek to push the trial back to Nov. 30.

Federal prosecutors say Mix deleted text messages about the amount of oil flowing from BP’s well after a 2010 rig explosion. Mix’s lawyers say he shared information about the flow rate throughout the government investigation.

Mix was acquitted on one criminal count in 2013 but convicted on an obstruction of justice charge. That conviction was thrown out, however, because the forewoman was found to have improperly told a deadlocked jury about remarks she heard outside of the trial.

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