HAZELWOOD ASKS U.S. COURT TO DISMISS OIL SPILL CHARGES

by JOHN TETPON
Daily News reporter

ANCHORAGE- Joseph Hazelwood, captain of the tanker that spewed more than 11 million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound, has asked a federal judge to stop the state from prosecuting him for the spill because he reported the accident to the Coast Guard.

According to Hazelwood's defense attorneys, people who cause oil spills can be immune under a federal clean water law from criminal prosecution if they report the incident. Hazelwood called the Coast Guard on his radio after the tanker Exxon Valdez hit a reef and began leaking oil.

The 42-year-old Hazelwood is charged with three felonies and three misdemeanors arising from the March 24 grounding of the tanker on Bligh Reef. They include operating a watercraft while intoxicated, reckless endangerment, negligent discharge of oil and three felony counts of criminal mischief.

If a federal judge agrees, all six criminal charges would be dropped and Hazelwood will not be tried, defense attorney Rick Friedman said.

State officials have sought to bring the New York state resident to trial in Alaska on the charges.

Defense attorneys Friedman of Anchorage and Dick Madson of Fairbanks filed a motion Wednesday for a preliminary injunction against state prosecution in Fairbanks federal court.

Madson said the defense motion is based on a 1976 federal law that says people who report oil spills that they cause are immune from criminal liability. He also said state officials are prohibited by federal law from using Hazelwood's statements to the Coast Guard in any criminal proceeding.

Madson said the state violated federal law when they used Hazelwood's information in building its case against him. He also said the statements provided an investigatory lead to other information and helped the state prepare for a grand jury that indicted him.

"Had (the state) honored Hazelwood's federal rights, most, or all the criminal charges pending against him would not have been initiated and continued. Had they honored his federal rights, he would not be in a position of having his own statements used against him in a protracted criminal litigation," Friedman wrote in his motion.

District Attorney Dwayne McConnell, named as a defendant in the defense motion along with three of his assistant district attorneys, was not available for comment because state offices were closed Wednesday.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Leonard Linton declined to comment on the motion.

The Exxon Valdez, filled with North Slope crude, ran aground after Hazelwood turned controls over to a third mate who was not licensed to pilot the ship between Valdez harbor and Bligh Reef. Hazelwood was in his cabin when the tanker hit the reef.

More than 1,000 miles of coastline was oiled by the spill and commercial fishing in some areas of Prince William Sound and Kodiak Island was closed.

Thousands of seabirds and scores of sea otters and other wildlife have also been killed by the spill.

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