NEW ORLEANS — A former BP engineer accused of obstructing an investigation into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by deleting a string of text messages pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge, avoiding prison time and ending a legal ordeal that spanned four years.
Prosecutors declined to comment after dropping the obstruction charge that could have landed Kurt Mix in prison for 20 years. Instead, he was sentenced to six months of probation. Mix’s attorney said the plea agreement resulted from an “unraveling” government case.
“Before this case, I knew very little about our justice system and how it worked,” Mix said, reading a statement outside the federal courthouse. “I believed it was about getting to the truth. I was wrong.”
Mix, 54, pleaded guilty to “intentionally causing damage without authorization to a protected computer.” Mix’s attorney Joan McPhee said he admitted he should have gotten permission before deleting the text messages between himself and a friend — a contractor working with him on ways to stop the underwater oil spew at the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010.
