NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A federal jury is weighing the Justice Department's case against a former BP engineer charged with deleting texts messages to obstruct a probe of the company's massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Jurors began deliberating on Monday after hearing closing arguments in the trial of Kurt Mix, a 52-year-old resident of Katy, Texas, who worked on BP's efforts to stop the nation's worst offshore oil spill.
Mix didn't testify at his trial on two counts of obstruction of justice. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Prosecutors claim Mix deliberately deleted messages to and from a supervisor and a BP contractor to stymie a grand jury's spill investigation. Defense attorneys said Mix didn't hide anything from the grand jury.
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