LANCASTER, N.H. (AP) — The owner of a New Hampshire gunpowder plant where two workers were killed in a May 2010 explosion was motivated by profit and greed and did not take adequate precautions to ensure employee safety, a prosecutor said in his opening argument as the trial began Monday for the Vermont man authorities blame for the fatal blast.
The lawyer for Craig Sanborn, 64, of Maidstone, Vt., countered in his opening statement that the explosion could have been caused by employee error. Defense attorney Mark Sisti emphasized that Sanborn was in North Carolina the day of the explosion and had no control over the plant or conditions that led to the incident.
Sanborn is charged with manslaughter and reckless homicide in the explosion at his Black Mag plant in Colebrook that killed Donald Kendall, 56, of Colebrook, and Jesse Kennett, 49, of Stratford. They had been hired a month earlier.
The force of the explosion shook nearby buildings and sent plumes of black smoke into the air. Dozens of homes were evacuated and firefighters couldn't get close to the blaze for several hours because ammunition was exploding.
Coos County Attorney John McCormick argued to jurors that Sanborn was reckless in manufacturing, testing and storing the black powder and failed to adequately train and protect workers. He told them Sanborn was also trying to meet conditions of an ambitious and lucrative contract for which he'd already received a $300,000 down payment.
"The case before you is brought to you by an age-old motivating factor and force — that being greed," McCormick said.
Sanborn has pleaded not guilty. Sisti told jurors that even the experts hired by prosecutors couldn't pinpoint the cause of the explosion.
Sisti said the explosion could have been sparked by a stray piece of metal that caused friction inside a machine where the gunpowder was being processed, a worker smoking in violation of the rules or a machine that was running too fast.
"You have a man on trial who didn't have control because he was 1,000 miles away," Sisti said. "It could have been an out-and-out accident."
Jurors will begin hearing testimony Monday afternoon.
The trial in Coos County Superior Court is expected to last several weeks.