The Galveston County Daily News

TEXAS CITY — A former federal district judge turned crime victims’ advocate is challenging a plea agreement between BP and the government, saying U.S. attorneys didn’t consult with victims when agreeing to fine the oil giant $50 million in the deadly refinery explosions of 2005.

Paul Cassell, now a law professor at the University of Utah, said the BP case could set a precedent for how federal courts and attorneys across the country interpret victims rights legislation.

He said U.S. attorneys didn’t consult the victims in the case when deciding on the sentence, which is counter to the Crime Victims Rights Act of 2004.

U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle’s office declined to comment, noting Cassell’s brief had not been filed with the court. Cassell said he expected to file it today.

BP agreed to plead guilty to a felony criminal violation of the The Clean Air Act for operating its Texas City refinery under unsafe conditions that led to the explosions of 2005, killing 15 people and injuring about 170.

The law passed in 2004 gives victims in federal criminal cases the “right to confer with the prosecutors about the case, and that’s something that does not appear to have occurred here,” Cassell said.

Prosecutors said the $50 million is the maximum amount they could prove BP should pay under federal guidelines.

Cassell said victims have a right to know exactly how prosecutors arrived at that number.

He expects other legal scholars around the country to watch this case closely because the Crime Victims Rights Act is still relatively new.

The victims also said the plea agreement hasn’t gone far enough to ensure adequate safety measures at the plant. They point to three separate accidents that have killed three workers since 2005.

BP Products North America, the company’s subsidiary charged in the criminal case, said the $50 million fine is sufficiently “harsh” and shouldn’t be reconsidered by the court.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal is expected to conduct a hearing on the plea agreement in Houston on Monday.

Cassell said he left the federal bench in Utah after five years so he could work on victims’ rights issues.