Criminally Negligent Homicide in the Oil Field Ignored by Officials

Welcome to East Texas Justice! That's what I was told by Justice of the Peace Derry Dunn when I asked him if he could assist me. My brother, Andrew Vionis was electrocuted at an onshore drilling rig in Newton County, Texas on April 27, 2006. His last words to his sons on the telephone that night just 45 minutes before he was killed were "I'll see you tomorrow! I love you!" He never told his boys he would see them tomorrow because he never wanted to disappoint them if his schedule changed without notice. That night at 9:30 p.m. was the first time ever that he said those words. What irony! Andrew was divorced and is survived by his beautiful twin boys, then age 2 1/2 yrs that he was raising alone with some help from our parents. He made it to where he was because he was an extremely hard worker, dedicated, honest and people friendly. Everybody liked him. He was employed by KMC Oiltools as a Service Technician. KMC Oiltools had been contracted by Helmerich & Payne (HandP) to provide services related to mud pumps, etc. On the night of April 27, Andrew was asked by an HandP employee to repair an electrical cable (600 volts) which supplied power to the Foreman's trailer and rig controls. The foreman ordered another HandP employee to turn on the breaker that supplied power to the cable Andrew was working on despite the fact that he knew Andrew was still working on it. (This is based on the police report). The county judge/coroner ruled his death an accident, despite the fact that the police report clearly states that it was a "criminally negligent homicide." The Newton County Texas District Attorney and Newton County Sheriff have refused to investigate. They have lied to us for 11 months stating that we couldn't have a copy of the police report because it was sealed by the Texas A.G.'s office. It wasn't. I confirmed this with the AG's office. After 11 months of waiting and AFTER my nephews' lawsuit had been settled, the report has now become available to us.

We have reason to believe that HandP was involved in the sheriff's failure and the D.A.'s failure to investigate and that they purposefully obstructed the flow of information contained in the criminal report to federal investigators (OSHA). HandP had an indemnity contract with KMC Oiltools. KMC's insurance carrier picked up the cost of defense and paid a settlement to my nephews. The knowledge that the act was a criminally negligent homicide would have voided the indemnity contract and HandP would have had to defend itself and pay out of pocket for any settlement. With a risk exposure in the range of $10 million dollars and the likelihood of criminal penalties for knowingly committing federal safety violations, you can see how HandP would have been VERY MOTIVATED to keep the truth of the criminally negligent homicide from coming to the forefront until after ACE American Insurance had settled in its behalf. Judge Derry Dunn to whom I wrote for assistance, told me "welcome to East Texas justice!" I and even the Judge agreed that the time-line of the release of the criminal report is reason to suspect that there has been a cover-up by the drilling company and the drilling company was assisted in this regard by the sheriff's office and the District Attorney.

What follows is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a Judge Derry Dunn of Orange County. He wasn't able to help us, but like I said earlier he said, "Welcome to East Texas Justice". MONEY IS NOT MY OBJECTIVE. I want the responsible parties (HandP and their employees) to pay for their mistakes and I mostly want them to be held accountable for killing my brother, for covering up the facts, for possibly bribing public officials to keep their mouths shut, and for committing what amounts to insurance fraud. How are they any different than the N.Y. mob? I am so very sick and tired of the way justice is run in this state!!! One day I will have to answer to my only two nephews about how their father died and I don't want to have to say to them that "I just don't know." or "They guy that killed him got off." When you ask them about their dad or when they voluntarily say something like, "I want daddy to come back NOW!" They always look away towards the heavens and it’s as if they are in another world. The pain they feel is written on their beautiful, sweet, little 3 year old faces.
"I recently received a copy of the report prepared by Deputy Duos’ of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. In his report, he clearly stated that in the event my brother died “it would be more than likely a criminal act.”

[T]he incident occurred just a few miles inside the Newton County (Texas) line. Because of cell tower location the 911 call was received by Orange County dispatch and Orange County Sheriff Deputy Duos was called to the scene. He interviewed two witnesses and obtained certain evidence which he used to prepare his report. In his report, Deputy Duos stated that the Newton County Sheriff’s Office advised that a Newton County Deputy was at the scene. Deputy Duos clearly states in his report that he did not see a Newton County Deputy at the scene. Duos stated that after he left the scene, he spoke with Newton County Deputy Ritter via cellular phone and was told by Ritter that he visited the scene only briefly. Over the course of eleven months, I have made several attempts to obtain a copy of Deputy Ritter’s report from the Newton County Sheriff’s Office. They have given me one excuse after another for why they cannot produce a copy of Ritter’s report. Their excuses range from “we don’t have it here, it must be with the deputy”, “it’s still an open investigation so we can’t give you a copy”, “it’s been sealed by the Texas Attorney General.” The truth was that they never investigated it and that's whey they couldn't produce a copy of a report.

I spoke with Deputy Ritter a few weeks after my brother’s death and provided him with information I believed may have been relevant to the case. Deputy Ritter spoke with my father who also provided him with information that he believed was relevant to the case. Yet, despite even these two conversations, Deputy Ritter still did not prepare a report? If he had been at the scene, would he not have performed his usual duties of interviewing witnesses, making notes, etc.? Furthermore, how can there be an “open investigation” as he told me on the telephone, but in the end there not be a report.

Without conducting an investigation, Deputy Ritter forwarded Deputy Duos’ report to the Newton County District Attorney’s office. My Open Records Request to the Newton County D.A. asked for a copy of their ENTIRE FILE REGARDING THEIR INVESTIGATION. The D.A. stated in her letter that they provided to me the only documents in their file on this matter. Those documents contained only the Orange County Deputy's report; no investigation file - no investigation by the Newton County Sheriff and no investigation by the Newton County D.A. The Newton County District Attorney stated in her letter that Deputy Ritter did not prepare a report because he assisted Deputy Duos with the initial investigation. Deputy Duos disagrees with this statement.

It is the role of a District Attorney to investigate matters involving the possibility of a criminal act. Yet, even the D.A.’s office failed to do so in this case. This is based on their own admission that the documents they provided to me were the only documents in their file. In fact, in a prior conversation with the D.A., who was then the Assistant D.A., I was told that the file had been sealed by the Texas Attorney General’s office, that a copy could not be provided to me nor could the matter be discussed with me. I have since confirmed with the A.G.'s office that they had no knowledge of my brother's case.

I find it extremely disturbing that Deputy Ritter and the Newton County District Attorney’s Office left such a huge hole in the investigation of my brother’s death, particularly since Deputy Ritter was told by Deputy Duos on the telephone and the D.A. should have seen in Duos’ report that he suspected this was a criminal act. I spoke with Deputy Duos on the telephone a few days ago about the incident and he specifically told me that based on his observations and on the statements of witness and even on evidence that he obtained from the scene my brother’s death was a criminally negligent homicide.

I suspect that HANDP, the D.A. and the Sheriff colluded to keep the report from us during the course of our investigation and litigation. I think it is significant and highly suspicious that all of my attempts to obtain copies of any information related to this case were thwarted for almost an entire year. I also find it significant and extremely suspicious that I was finally able to obtain copies of this information only after my brother’s twin boys and my parents settled their lawsuit against HandP and after OSHA made its determination as to their findings against HandP. (I have since provided the criminal report to OSHA. They confirmed that they did not have a copy of it and that if they did, it very likely would have changed their citation against HandPP from serious to criminal.)

I think that a finding of criminally negligent homicide rather than accident would have greatly impacted HandP in a very expensive way and on many fronts. HANDP did not want the publicity nor the greater liability associated with a criminally negligent homicide performed by one of its employees. A determination of criminally negligent homicide would have most likely obliterated any defenses HandP had under their indemnity contract with my brother’s employer, KMC Oiltools. HandP would have had to fund their own defense as well as any judgments, federal penalties, or settlements against them. At a time when the oil and gas industry is spending billions to drill for more oil, the fact that a drilling company would to do anything, legal or illegal, to keep its numbers up is not surprising. Surprising or not, the fact remains that if HandP acted in anyway to stop the revelation of the truth behind my brother’s death their actions would be illegal, just as it would be illegal for public officials and agencies to participate in such collusion with HandP.

The HandP employees wanted Rig 118 back up and running and they didn't care that my brother was still working on the power line. They cared so little that they did not take the proper precautionary measures to lock and tag breaker #45 so as to prevent the death of a 35 year old single father. They were insufficiently trained as indicated by the fact that the foreman and another HandP employee argued over whether breaker #45 was the one that powered the line my brother was working on. At a minimum, all they had to do was ask Andrew if he was finished, but they simply didn’t care enough! HandP knew that their employee’s behavior would have brought tears to the eyes of even the most hard-core pro-corporation juror and would have directly cost HandP, not KMC Oiltools' indemnity insurer ACE American Insurance, millions. I suspect that they did whatever they could to stop this case dead in its tracks.