Trial Against Xcel Starts In Denver Federal Court

DENVER (CBS4) - Jurors listened intently Wednesday morning as attorneys for the government and Xcel Energy spelled out their cases in a rare criminal trial of a corporation.

Five contract workers died in October 2007 when a fire broke out inside a pipe where they were working. Xcel is criminally charged with violating workplace safety rules.

In opening statements an Xcel attorney said what caused the deaths was the fire, not any willful violation of safety rules. Attorneys also claimed its contractor destroyed evidence from the fire. That evidence included a camera, cell phone, log books and safety briefing sheets.

Xcel denied any wrongdoing saying it took "responsible actions of a responsible company."

Government prosecutors told the jury Xcel had a responsibility to provide a rapid emergency response and didn't even have a working fire extinguisher inside the pipe.

The first witness was Elizabeth Foster, whose husband was one of those killed in the fire.

Eric Thomas is one of the survivors who got out on the other side of the fire and is also a witness in the case.

"It happened right in front of me … you could see the fire flash and I could see one of my coworkers fall down because he got burned in the face," Thomas said in 2010.

Thomas is expected to testify that he got a fire extinguisher outside, but it wasn't working.

"The difficult part … will be for the government to prove that they acted willfully in violation of the OSHA regulations," legal analyst Josh Franklin said.

Xcel could face a $500,000 fine on each of five counts if convicted.