National Briefing | Southwest: Texas: Rebuff to Plea Agreement

Federal prosecutors violated the rights of victims of a deadly 2005 explosion at a BP plant when they did not consult them about a plea agreement to settle criminal conduct in connection with the blast, a three-judge panel of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled. The panel did not block the deal, but sent the case back to a Houston judge and asked that she fully consider the victims’ objections before deciding whether to accept the agreement. A company spokesman, Neil Chapman, declined to comment. The deal, in which a BP subsidiary would plead guilty to a violation of the Clean Air Act, includes a $50 million fine and three years’ probation. Family members of those killed and injured argue that federal sentencing laws allow the fine to be as high as $3.2 billion. The explosion killed 15 people and injured more than 170 in Texas City, about 40 miles southeast of Houston.