Appeals court says plea violated rights of BP blast victims

Family members of those killed and workers injured by the blast say the fine is insufficient. They argue federal sentencing laws allow the fine to be as high as $3.2 billion.

They also say the plea deal doesn't provide for an independent watchdog to monitor whether BP would meet its safety obligations at the refinery.

Rosenthal earlier this year rejected claims by blast victims that their rights were violated under the Crime Victims' Rights Act.

Blast victims had wanted the deal rejected because under the act, they should have been notified and consulted about the plea agreement prior to it being announced in November.

Prosecutors had argued it would have been impractical to consult all of the hundreds of victims connected to the blast before a deal was struck and any advance notification might have jeopardized the agreement.

But a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit on Wednesday disagreed with prosecutors.

"The number of victims here did not render notice to, or conferring with, the victims to be impracticable, so the victims should have been notified of the ongoing plea discussions and should have been allowed to communicate meaningfully with the government, personally or through counsel, before a deal was struck," the three-judge panel wrote.

However, the appeals court concluded it would not be appropriate for it to order that the plea agreement be rejected, saying blast victims had been allowed to state their objections through a February court hearing, "albeit much too late in the process."

"We conclude that the better course is to deny relief, confident that the district court will take heed that the victims have not been accorded their full rights," the judges wrote.

Perry said he was disappointed the appeals court did not reject the plea deal.