Federal Judge Delays Ex-BP Engineer's Trial

A federal judge has agreed to postpone the trial of a former BP engineer charged with deleting text messages about the company's response to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Kurt Mix's trial was scheduled to start Feb. 25, but U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. moved it to June 10 after conferring with defense attorneys and prosecutors on Monday. Duval agreed to give both sides more time to prepare.

Mix, who worked on BP's effort to stop oil from spewing from its blown-out well in the Gulf, pleaded not guilty in May to two counts of obstruction of justice. His indictment accuses him of deleting text messages to a supervisor and a contractor to prevent them from being used in a federal grand jury probe.