NEW ORLEANS — Lawyers for a former BP engineer convicted of trying to obstruct a federal probe of the company's 2010 Gulf oil spill claim juror misconduct tainted the guilty verdict and warrants a new trial.
In a court filing Thursday, defense attorneys ask U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. to throw out the jury's Dec. 18 verdict convicting Kurt Mix of one count of obstruction of justice for deleting text messages to and from a BP supervisor.
Mix's lawyers said they interviewed jurors after the verdict and learned that one juror told the others during their deliberations about overhearing a conversation in a courthouse elevator that made that juror feel more comfortable about convicting Mix.
Mix's attorneys also said some jurors apparently engaged in "horse trading" that would ensure a split verdict.