EX-CAPTAIN LOSES BID
HAZELWOOD WILL FACE TRIAL IN ANCHORAGE

By JOHN TETPON
Daily News reporter

ANCHORAGE- Former Exxon Valdez captain Joseph Hazelwood will be tried in Anchorage, despite objections of defense attorneys, a Superior Court Judge ruled Friday.

"If Oliver North can get a fair trial in Washington, D.C., Capt. Joseph Hazelwood can get a fair trial in Anchorage," Judge Karl Johnstone said as he made the ruling.

Hazelwood, 42, of Huntington, N.Y., faces three misdemeanor and three felony charges stemming from the Exxon Valdez grounding and oil spill March 24 in Prince William Sound. His trial is set to begin Jan. 22.

Charges include operating a watercraft while intoxicated, reckless endangerment, negligent discharge of oil and three felony counts of criminal mischief.

Defense attorneys Dick Madson and Rick Friedman had argued that intense pretrial publicity in Anchorage would make it nearly impossible to pick a fair and impartial jury.

Fairbanks or Palmer would be better because residents there had less to do with the oil and fishing industries than those in Anchorage or Valdez, they said.

Johnstone said, however, that he believed the oil spill has received a fair amount of coverage everywhere in the state and that Anchorage would be a logical choice because of the large pool of potential jurors it offers.

Madson said outside the courtroom that more than 20 percent of Anchorage residents polled by a private research firm said they felt the captain would be found guilty if a trial were held here.

Assistant District Attorney Brent Cole had earlier agreed that the trial should not be held in Valdez because public sentiment against the former captain was running high and jury selection would be a difficult.

"It would be important to hold the trial where the crime occurred," Cole said in arguing for a local trial.

The Exxon Valdez, leaving Valdez under Hazelwood's command, ran aground after he turned the controls over to a third mate who was not licensed to pilot the ship between Valdez and Bligh Reef.

The ship impaled itself on the reef and spilled almost 11 million gallons of oil into the Sound. Hazelwood was in his cabin.

Meanwhile, a federal court judge has yet to act on a preliminary injunction asking the federal government to stop the state from prosecuting Hazelwood, Madson said.

Hazelwood had asked that federal authorities grant him immunity because he reported the spill to the Coast Guard.

According to Madson, people who cause oil spills can be immune, under a federal clean water law, from criminal prosecution if they report the incident.

---

Story Index: Main | The Captain	Overall: story 157 of 380 The Captain story 23 of 56