The U.S. coal company Drummond has been acquitted of liability for the murder of three union leaders at its northern Colombian mine. An Alabama jury rejected allegations the company’s financial support for right-wing paramilitaries made it liable for the killings. The victims’ families maintain Drummond hired the masked gunmen that killed Valmore Locarno and Victor Orcasita in March 2001 and Gustavo Soler seven months later. The jury did not reject those claims but ruled only that Drummond wasn’t liable. The families have criticized the Colombian government for delaying the deposition of a key witness. Rafael Garcia, a former senior official at Colombia’s executive intelligence agency, claims he witnessed Drummond’s top official in Colombia hand over a suitcase full of money to pay for the assassinations. The International Labor Fund and the United Steelworkers union filed the suit on behalf of the families. They say they plan to appeal the verdict.