Jury Deliberates in Former BP Engineer’s Trial

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Jurors are at a stalemate in reaching a verdict in the case of former BP engineer Kurt Mix.

Mix is charged with two counts of obstruction of justice after being accused of deleting text messages to and from a supervisor and BP contractor to hide them from a grand jury.

Mix’s lawyers deny the accusations and say their client preserved other documents with the same information that was in the text messages.

Charges also say Mix deleted two voicemails from the same supervisor and BP contractor. Each count of obstruction of justice has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Mix is one of four BP employees on trial for crimes dating back to the April 20, 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil spill killed 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and spewed millions of gallons of crude oil into the gulf daily.

Jury deliberations are scheduled to resume today.