PG&E seeks to have its criminal convictions overturned

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. wants a federal judge to throw out its convictions for safety violations uncovered during an investigation that followed the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion, arguing that there was no evidence the company or any of its employees knowingly broke any laws. Prosecutors in the 51/2-week trial failed to show that “anyone at PG&E had any evil intent or subjective belief that they were violating a clear legal duty,” as required for criminal convictions under the safety laws, the company’s lawyers contended in papers filed late Tuesday. A U.S. District Court jury in San Francisco found California’s largest utility company guilty Aug. 9 of six felony charges: five for failing to gather information on past pipeline leaks, assess ongoing dangers and give priority to hazardous pipe segments, and a sixth count of obstructing the federal investigation of the September 2010 San Bruno explosion, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. Prosecutors had sought fines of up to $562 million, based on PG&E’s alleged profits from illegal conduct, but dropped that request during jury deliberation, apparently because of rulings by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson limiting the evidence they could use to link cost-savings to specific acts of lawbreaking. [...] he will hold a hearing Oct. 11 on PG&E’s request to overturn the convictions and dismiss the charges, based on its claim that the case was so flimsy that it never should have gone to the jury. During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that the company, looking to save money, inspected pipelines externally for signs of corrosion, using methods that were far less expensive than internal technology probes or high-pressure water testing but were incapable of detecting welding defects like the one that caused the San Bruno explosion.