Defense Says Fatal Explosion Was an Accident, Not a Crime

Defense lawyers argued Wednesday that prosecutors failed to prove that hazardous waste was being illegally stored and burned at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Chatsworth when two scientists were killed in an explosion in 1994.

John D. Vandevelde said the criminal case against his client, a former Rocketdyne supervisor, has “fundamental problems.”

“It didn’t make sense 61/2 years ago when I got involved in this case, and it doesn’t make sense today,” he said in his closing argument.

Vandevelde’s client, Joseph E. Flanagan, 61, of Stanwood, Wash., is on trial for allegedly storing and disposing of hazardous waste illegally. His co-defendant, Edgar R. Wilson, 65, of Chatsworth, is charged with illegally burning waste.

The Riverside jury could begin deliberations in the four-month trial as early as today.

Both defendants testified that the chemicals being burned at the field laboratory in July 1994 were excess materials but not waste. They contend the burnings were part of legitimate scientific experiments.

“Mr. Wilson had every reason to believe it was a test and not a crime,” said his attorney, Leonard Sharenow.

In their closing arguments, Vandevelde and Sharenow criticized the prosecution’s case and, at times, the prosecutor himself, Assistant U.S. Atty. William Carter.

“They are attempting to conjure up a crime where no crime exists,” Sharenow told jurors.

Flanagan and Wilson are charged with felony violations of the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Carter contends that the environmental law was broken when five Rocketdyne employees, including Wilson, burned chemicals at a test site on July 21, 1994, and July 26, 1994.

On the second day, the burnings ended abruptly with an explosion that instantly killed chemical engineer Otto K. Heiney, 53, of Canoga Park, and physicist Larry A. Pugh, 51, of Thousand Oaks.

Flanagan, then director of Rocketdyne’s Chemical Technology Group, was not present on either day, but was the men’s supervisor.

Defense lawyers said one of the prosecution’s key witnesses made thousands of dollars by helping plaintiffs sue Rocketdyne in a separate taxpayer action arising from the same incidents. The defense contended that a second witness allegedly was intimidated by the prosecution, which threatened to name him as a co-defendant in this case.

Vandevelde said neither Flanagan nor Heiney had any motive to burn waste illegally at Santa Susana. He denied that there was corporate pressure on Flanagan to dispose of excess materials immediately, saying the employees would not have created an extensive inventory if they had planned to get rid of the materials illegally.

Flanagan testified last month that he did not direct, approve or plan any “phony testing” or illegal storage of waste.

He said Heiney asked if he could use excess materials to conduct overpressure tests, and Flanagan approved.

Wilson, a lab technician assigned to work with Heiney at the test site, said his boss, James F. Weber, assured him that Flanagan had authorized the test.

Sharenow said the mere presence of Heiney and Pugh, respected scientists in the aerospace industry, gave the work “authenticity.”

To win convictions, Carter must show that Flanagan and Wilson knew the men were burning waste.

The trial is being held in Riverside because the case, filed in Los Angeles, was randomly assigned to Judge Robert J. Timlin of the U.S. District Court’s Central District.