Revenge Blamed in Blast Trial

Defense lawyers warned jurors Friday that two key prosecution witnesses are motivated by vengeance against their former boss, on trial in connection with the 1994 explosion at Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County that killed two scientists.

Bertram Moy and Gary D. Schnittgrund worked for Joseph E. Flanagan, then-director of Rocketdyne’s Chemical Technology Group, and are expected to testify that Flanagan ordered others to illegally burn waste materials, which caused the explosion.

Defense lawyers said the former employees are lying because they want to get even with Flanagan, who demoted Schnittgrund and forced Moy and his daughter to quit their jobs at Rocketdyne.

“Bert Moy exaggerated and spun and lied and stirred up people to get back at Dr. Flanagan. . . . He hates Dr. Flanagan. He hates Rocketdyne,” said Flanagan’s attorney, John D. Vandevelde, in his opening statement.

Defense attorney Leonard Sharenow said Moy once told him that he didn’t care how much trouble he caused for others, “if that’s what it takes to get Mr. Flanagan, then that’s what it takes.”

Flanagan, 61, of Stanwood, Wash., and Edgar R. Wilson, 65, of Chatsworth are on trial in Riverside on two felony counts of illegally disposing of hazardous materials in July 1994 at the field lab. Flanagan also is charged with illegally storing the materials.

James F. Weber, charged with three felony counts, pleaded guilty in August to the misdemeanor of illegally storing explosive materials and faces up to one year in prison.

The case, filed in Los Angeles, was assigned randomly to a federal judge in Riverside, which is part of the U.S. District Court’s Central District.

The July 26, 1994, blast killed chemical engineer Otto K. Heiney, 53, of Canoga Park and physicist Larry A. Pugh, 51, of Thousand Oaks, but U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin ruled that prosecutors cannot mention the deaths.

The trial will end a seven-year federal investigation into the explosion. No one has been charged with the deaths. Prosectors say the penalty is more severe for federal environmental crimes than for manslaughter in state court.

If convicted, Flanagan and Wilson could receive up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

Moy and Schnittgrund are expected to testify that Heiney and Pugh told them that they were not really conducting scientific research, but were illegally burning hazardous waste to get rid of it.

Defense lawyers question the authenticity of the scientists’ admissions because the men were not friends and did not work together. After the blast, Schnittgrund called the FBI to report the alleged crimes and worked as a confidential informant in the investigation.

In 1996, Schnittgrund participated in a failed shareholder lawsuit against Rocketdyne, defense lawyers said. The suit centered on a decision by Rocketdyne’s then-parent, Rockwell International Corp., to plead guilty to three federal counts of mishandling hazardous materials and pay a $6.5-million fine in connection with the explosion.

On the day of the blast, Heiney, Pugh, Weber, Wilson and mechanic Lee Wells were burning materials in an area of the Santa Susana lab called “Happy Valley,” when the chemicals accidentally ignited and exploded. Flanagan, their supervisor, was not there.

Wells, severely burned in the blast, was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.

Despite the prosecution’s allegations, Vandevelde said his witnesses will testify that the scientists had a written test procedure for burning the rocket propellants, used instruments to measure shock waves (suggesting it was research) and were under no pressure to destroy scrap materials.