Lawyers for corporation, ex-superintendent make first major moves in court since charges filed in 2022 over air pollutants released from now-closed plant on Lake Erie at foot of East Avenue.
Erie Times-News
- An eight-count indictment issued in federal court in Erie charged Erie Coke, ex-superintendent with conspiracy to violate Clean Air Act, other counts
- They want judge to strike what they say is prejudicial language in indictment and dismiss some charges
Erie Coke Corp. and a former plant superintendent are attacking the wording in the indictment as they advance their pretrial defense in their federal criminal case.
The codefendants want a judge in U.S. District Court in Erie to strike swaths of the indictment, which they claim is filled with “irrelevant and prejudicial language.”
In newly filed court documents, Erie Coke and the former superintendent said they are upset that the indictment, among other things, refers to what they describe as “hypothetical victims” of the air-pollution violations that the government alleges occurred at the 137-employee Erie Coke until it closed at the end of 2019 due to environmental issues.