BP to learn its fate in Gulf oil spill criminal case

It’s judgment day for BP. The British oil giant will learn today whether a U.S. judge accepts or rejects a criminal plea deal the company reached with the Justice Department over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico rig explosion and oil spill, The Houston Chronicle reports. The setting is a federal courtroom in New Orleans. U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance has said she will announce her decision at the hearing, which was set to begin at 10 a.m. Lawyers for BP and federal prosecutors are expected to address the court. So, too, will relatives of some of the 11 men who were killed when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank. Federal probation officials have filed under seal a pre-sentence investigation report and recommendation, which the judge will review. It has been revised or added to twice since the original report was issued, records show. Today’s hearing is likely to be crowded and emotional. BP has agreed to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges, including manslaughter and obstruction of Congress, and pay a record $4 billion criminal penalty. The deal also calls for five years of probation and independent monitoring. If Vance accepts the deal, she will impose the agreed-upon sentence. If she rejects it, she will allow BP to withdraw its guilty plea and go to trial. BP officials have not disclosed who will formally enter the guilty plea for the company—a corporate officer or one of its lawyers. The full story can be found here.