NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Sentencing for a former BP engineer found guilty of obstructing justice in the government’s investigation of the Deepwater Horizon disaster has been pushed back while his lawyers fight the conviction.
Kurt Mix was found guilty in December of one count of obstructing justice for deleting a string of text messages in what prosecutors say was effort to hamper the government’s criminal investigation of the deadly 2010 explosion and oil spill.
He had been set for sentencing in late March, but the date was recently pushed back to April 23 by U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval.
Duval is to hear arguments March 13 on defense motions, including one asking for the court to declare Mix not guilty and another seeking a new trial.