Alaska News

Defendant backs out of plea agreement in Western Alaska platinum mining case

A defendant in a major Western Alaska pollution case has changed his mind and is withdrawing from his agreement to plead guilty, according to filings in U.S. District Court in Anchorage this week.

Instead of pleading to a single pollution discharge count at a hearing that had been set for Friday, James Staeheli, of Cle Elum, Washington, is scheduled to stand trial in September, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ordered Tuesday morning.

The case involves the mine operated by XS Platinum Inc. in Southwest Alaska from 2008 to 2012. A federal indictment says operators intentionally discharged mining wastewater into salmon streams, then conspired to keep those discharges hidden.

The corporation -- which has disintegrated -- and five managers and executives were indicted in November on multiple counts. The case is the first criminal prosecution in Alaska of a mining company under the federal Clean Water Act. Another Washington state resident, Robert Pate, pleaded guilty in March and is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 2.

A third defendant, James Slade of Calgary, Alberta, also is scheduled to go to trial, now along with Staeheli, starting Sept. 21 in Anchorage.

The two top officers in XS Platinum, Bruce Butcher and Mark Balfour, are Australians charged with multiple offenses.

"To date, however, they have not been willing to respond to the charges or appear in the United States to answer the indictment," Kevin Feldis, an assistant U.S. attorney, wrote in a status report filed in court May 28.

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Feldis did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday about any efforts on the part of the government to force the Australians to face the charges.

Backing out of a plea agreement already filed in court "is not unheard of, but it's fairly uncommon," Staeheli's attorney, Darrel Gardner of Anchorage, said Tuesday.

He said he couldn't discuss the reasons for the change.

"Mr. Staeheli had originally tried to work with the government and work out an agreed-upon resolution of the case but subsequently determined he would rather put his faith in the hands of a jury," Gardner said. "It's a tough decision for someone."

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

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