The Associated Press has just reported that in the BP oil spill case... Anthony Badalamenti, 62, of Katy, Texas, faces a maximum sentence of 1 year in prison and a $100,000 fine after his guilty plea in U.S. District Court to one misdemeanor count of destruction of evidence. His sentencing by U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey is set for Jan. 21. This is important to the overall case because of both the timing and the nature of what evidence was destroyed. In May 2010, according to prosecutors, Badalamenti directed a senior program manager to run computer simulations on centralizers, which are used to keep the casing centered in the wellbore. The results indicated there was little difference between using six or 21 centralizers. The data could have supported BP's decision to use the lower number, but Justice Department prosecutor William Pericak said the number of centralizers had "little effect" on the outcome of the simulations. Badalamenti instructed the program manager to delete...(Read Full Post)