Prosecutors and defense spar to the finish line of oil spill trial

SANTA BARBARA -- After two days of closing arguments, jurors will finally decide if Texas based oil company, Plains All American Pipeline, was criminally negligent in its handling of a 142,000 gallon oil spill at Refugio Beach in 2015.

Witness credibility was a central focus for the prosecution in its argument Friday. Deputy District Attorney Kevin Weichbrod said many witnesses called by the defense either minimized Plains' conduct or lied during their testimonies.

"Some other people were not so truthful and minimized what happened," Weichbrod said. "Some people just purposefully forgot, ... and a couple employees just lied to you."

The defense's argument, made by Luis Li of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, largely focused on the testimony of expert witness Katherine Buckingham, the principal engineer at Det Norske Veritas and Gemanischer LLoyd, a global quality assurance and risk management company assigned to write the incident report on the spill. Buckingham testified that she found nothing substandard in Plains' efforts to prevent a spill.

"You looked at the processes, procedures, materials, did you find any substandard conduct, something that Plains did wrong, and she said no, 'I did not,'" Li said.

While Buckingham is one of the witnesses not accused by the prosecution of outright lying, Weichbrod did say she minimized Plains' responsibility in the spill because she was motivated by the prospect of repeat business in the oil industry.

"Buckingham was selected by Plains and payed for by Plains," Weichbrod said. "She was prepped by Plains. She keeps on looking over to defense counsel as if to get the answers for questions."

Li preemptively responded to the prosecutions' claims by reminding the jury Buckingham was a government employee.

"What's their deal with Dr. Buckingham? Has she been bought and paid for by Plains?" Li said. "Are we supposed to not believe her? Are we supposed to disregard her testimony or should we listen to her when she says under oath, 'I identified nothing that plains did wrong.'"

Plains, represented by Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, Bird Marella Boxer Wolpert Nessim Drooks Lincenberg & Rhow PC and Fell, Marking, Abkin, Montgomery, Granet & Raney LLP., faces four felony charges relating to its handling of the spill and 11 misdemeanor charges mostly relating to the unlawful take of marine mammals and birds. People v. Plains All American Pipeline LP, 1495091 (Santa Barbara Super. Ct., filed May 16, 2016).

Li said in his final argument the 142,000 gallon figure, used by the prosecution throughout the trial, was inaccurate, and that only 30,000 gallons had actually entered the Pacific Ocean.

"When you keep on saying 142,000 gallons of oil, you're leading a jury without telling people well that's actually not the total amount," Li said. "The unified command estimated the barrels at 2900, which works out to around 120,000. And not all of that went into the ocean. ... And I'm not saying so therefore forget about it. ... I'm just cluing you in to how the prosecution is presenting it."

In response to a photo presentation put on by Li the previous day of Plains employees smiling and working, Weichbrod told the jury no individuals were charged in the case.

"The first thing out of Li's mouth is, he shows you a picture of the employees and says, 'The Prosecution in this case is trying to label these people as criminals'" Weichbrod said. "Like a lot of Li's argument's, that is completely false."

At this point, previously indicted James Buchanan, an environmental and regulatory compliance specialist, and the sole individual originally charged in the case for his handling of the spill response, smiled and whispered something into the ear of another person sitting in the audience.

Buchanan originally faced three criminal charges but, according to his attorney, after it was found by the court that the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence from a grand jury, had one charge dropped. The prosecution, represented by Weichbrod and Deputy Attorney General Brett Morris, dropped all remaining charges against Buchanan on the eve of trial, and was subsequently served with a subpoena to testify.

After 50 witness testimonies, numerous motions to dismiss for prosecutorial misconduct, and a dwindling jury, partially due to improper conduct with an attorney, the four month criminal is now a week away from deliberations.