Jury finds former BP engineer not guilty in oil spill case

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former BP rig engineer was found not guilty today on a charge of negligence that contributed to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Robert Kaluza was a rig supervisor aboard the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig when it exploded, killing 11 workers and resulting in millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf and fouling wetlands and beaches.

Kaluza was charged with a single count of violating the federal Clean Water Act. Jurors got the case this afternoon and reached a verdict after less than two hours of deliberation.

Prosecutors told jurors Kaluza and a former co-defendant, Donald Vidrine, botched a crucial pressure test indicating oil and gas could be flowing from deep beneath the sea floor into BP's Macondo well, which was thought to be securely plugged with cement and mud.

"All of the red flags in front of him should have told him that it was a bad test," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Winters told jurors after showing them projected images of smoke billowing from the flaming, crippled rig, followed by pictures of oil-coated coastal land.

Defense attorney Shaun Clarke cast Kaluza as a scapegoat. He said federal prosecutors failed to make their case.