Judge interviews juror who spoke with deputy attorney general

SANTA BARBARA — Monday’s proceedings in the criminal negligence trial over a 2015 oil spill on Refugio State Beach were marked by multiple overruled objections, the judge questioning the relevance of the prosecutions’ questions, the defense declining to cross-examine witnesses at the end of the day, and a hearing to probe a deputy attorney general’s conversation with a juror.

In their attempt to prove Plains All American Pipeline’s procedures leading to the 142,000-gallon spill and its handling of the emergency were negligent, the prosecution, including the state attorney general’s and Santa Barbara County district attorney’s offices, has questioned everyone from senior executives at Plains, to pipeline controllers and inspectors.

The trial has focused mostly on technical testimony such as what causes pipe corrosion and how it can be detected, as well as procedures to follow when a spill occurs.

However, the case has already seen one instance of alleged prosecutorial misconduct contribute to the dropping of all charges against one official, and a deputy attorney general from the civil division having a lunchtime conversation with a juror outside of the courtroom.

Before the jury was brought in Monday, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge James Herman said that after thinking about the incident over the weekend, he planned to question the juror who was seen talking to the deputy attorney general, Ross Hirsch.

After a hearing on the conversation last Thursday, Herman said he was very disturbed by the incident, which he called mind-boggling. Hirsch said the juror approached him, and he didn’t want to be rude by telling her he could not speak with her, denying he had not done anything wrong.

Herman barred him from the courtroom while the jury is present until further notice. Hirsch was monitoring the trial in anticipation of civil suits to follow.

“The court is going to make an inquiry directly,” Herman said Monday, in reference to the contacted juror. At the end of testimony, cut short by a lack of ready witnesses, Herman ordered the public to clear the courtroom so the juror could be questioned with the attorneys present.

The full contents of the conversation are under seal, but Hirsch said he had not spoken to the juror about the case. He said he had talked to her about his sore foot, the palm trees around the courthouse, and mentioned he was an environmental attorney.

During Monday’s testimony, little was revealed during the almost two-hour, objection-riddled examination by Deputy Attorney General Brett Morris of Plains Executive Vice President of Operations and Engineering Daniel J. Nerbonne.

Morris’ lengthy questioning centered around Plains’ increase in inspection intervals and whether they had any bearing on an alleged increase in corrosion of the pipeline that burst, sending oil onto the beach and into the ocean.

Nerbonne testified that Plains had indeed increased inspection intervals of certain pipelines, including the Line 901 in question, from once every five years to once every three years, prior to the rupture.

However, Nerbonne later said that the increase in inspection intervals was done because of a general expansion of safety protocols at Plains over the years, not necessarily because of a growing concern about corrosion.

As the questioning continued, defense attorney Melinda Eades LeMoine of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP increased her objections.

“Objection, relevance?” said LeMoine. “Objection, vague. ... Objection, asked and answered.”

Despite the numerous objections, Herman replied, “overruled” to almost every one. Throughout the examination, Herman did interject to independently question relevance.

After Nerbonne finished his testimony, the defense told the court that they had no further questions for the witness and declined their opportunity to cross-examine him.

After Deputy District Attorney Kevin Weichbrod finished questioning the next witness, a Plains pipeline controller, Plains’ defense counsel again declined to cross-examine him.

Herman than asked who was next to be called to the witness stand, to which the prosecution said that there weren’t any left and that two witnesses who were scheduled to appear, weren’t able to because of scheduling conflicts beyond their control.

The trial is expected to continue on Thursday.