HAZELWOOD LAWYERS, STATE TRY TO ARRANGE RETURN

By SHEILA TOOMEY
Daily News reporter

ANCHORAGE- Lawyers for former Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood are negotiating with state officials to arrange a voluntary return to Alaska, according to Dick Madson, a Fairbanks attorney who is lead counsel in what he labeled "the world's most expensive, complicated, difficult misdemeanor case."

Hazelwood was master of the Exxon tanker when it grounded March 24 on Bligh Reef outside Valdez and spilled more than 10 million gallons of North Slope crude. He is charged with operating a vessel while intoxicated, reckless endangerment and negligent discharge of oil. He is free in New York, his home state, on $25,000 bail pending an extradition hearing May 5.

Madson intends to seek a change of venue from Valdez, where the Alaska charges were filed.

He said he is considering asking that Hazelwood be tried in Fairbanks because of its distance from the sea. Choosing an impartial jury from among fishermen and their relatives in a maritime city would be difficult, he said. "On balance, I think (Fairbanks) is the only fair place."

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