Trial of Rocket Scientists Delayed

After two months of testimony, a federal judge in Riverside suspended the criminal trial of two former Rocketdyne scientists Tuesday to resolve a motion to disqualify him.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin delayed the trial of Edgar R. Wilson, 65, of Chatsworth and Joseph E. Flanagan, 61, of Stanwood, Wash., who are charged with federal environmental crimes stemming from a 1994 explosion that killed two men at Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Chatsworth.

The motion was filed by defense lawyers after they learned that the judge had helped a prosecution witness hire an attorney to sue Rocketdyne.

The information was brought forward last week by Assistant U.S. Atty. William Carter. He informed defense lawyers that Timlin had recommended an attorney who sued Rocketdyne on behalf of Judy Heiney, the widow of chemical engineer Otto K. Heiney, 53, who was killed in the blast.

Heiney was expected to testify this week about conversations with her husband about waste disposal practices at Rocketdyne’s field lab. Before the trial, Timlin ruled that Heiney could offer evidence about her husband’s growing frustration with what she has called “stupid environmental rules” and how Rocketdyne could “get around” them.

But defense lawyers Leonard Sharenow and John D. Vandevelde asked Timlin to recuse himself Tuesday and declare a mistrial. After court, Sharenow said he regrets having to disrupt the trial, but there could be an appearance of impropriety.

The prosecutor objected to the motion. “We believe that Judge Timlin can continue to be a fair and impartial judge,” said Thom Mzorek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

The motion was referred to another judge, Virginia Phillips.

It was unknown how long the trial will be delayed. Jurors were sent home Tuesday and told they would be contacted when needed.

In court Thursday, Timlin said he did not make the connection between the 1994 referral and the current criminal case, which began five years later, until Carter mentioned it Thursday.

He said his former secretary at the state appellate court, Ethel Barton, asked him for the name of a lawyer who could represent her niece in a civil wrongful-death lawsuit against Rocketdyne. Shortly thereafter, Timlin was appointed to the federal bench and got a new secretary.

He suggested a lawyer to Barton, Timlin said, but has “never spoken to nor seen” Heiney.

“It has in no way affected me in the rulings I have made,” the judge said.