Prosecutors Must Narrow Charges in Criminal Suit Over West Texas Hydrogen Sulfide Death After Successful ‘Multiplicity’ Challenge
Aghorn Operating had argued the government was charging it three times for the same death, while prosecutors argued that each count related to an alleged violation of a different environmental law and that forcing it to narrow the charges would cut against the legislative intent and “undermine the deterrent value of the OSH Act.”
U.S. District Judge David Counts became the first federal judge in history to interpret the contours of a multiplicity challenge — that is, an argument that the Department of Justice is impermissibly spreading a single offense over several counts — related to alleged violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act resulting in an employee’s death.