In West Virginia, a federal jury has convicted former Massy Energy CEO Don Blankenship of conspiring to willfully violate federal mine safety laws. The charge carries a one- to five-year sentence. If he hadn’t been acquitted Thursday for making false statements and deceiving regulators, The New York Times reports, the coal mogul could have been sentenced to 30 years.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Prosecutors say they may have made history by landing a conviction against ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship over workplace safety, though the misdemeanor charge fell far short of what they’d hoped for.
“Even though Blankenship wasn’t convicted of all charges, he is guilty of reckless disregard of human life and the loss of 29 souls through reckless disregard and negligent homicide through just his greed”, she said.
Blankenship was also found not guilty on two felony counts, the first for lying to investors, the second for lying to federal securities officials about Massey’s safety record following the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 men and sparked the investigation into Massey and later its CEO. He also said most Upper Big Branch violations could have been prevented by hiring more miners or spending more time on safety tasks.
The Blankenship defense team indicated the appeal will be based on what they call a flawed indictment and some decisions by U.S. District Judge Irene Berger when it came to evidence.
Clay Mullins lost his brother, Rex, in the explosion.
The conviction becomes the centerpiece of a wide-spanning investigation into Massey that began after the explosion.
And prosecutors noted that justice isn’t only measured by the prison sentence.
“They were trying to hold Mr. Blankenship responsible for extremely serious felonies and while they obtained a conviction, it was only of a single misdemeanor count”, said Pollack, who was not involved in the case. Blankenship then told Blanchard not to let the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration run his mines.
Jurors heard descriptions of Blankenship’s fortune – he was paid almost $18 million in 2009, the last full year before the explosion at the West Virginia mine – and they saw documents that portrayed him as a manager with intricate knowledge of the operations of his multibillion-dollar company. Blankenship, who was known for his vocal and acerbic responses to the environmental activists and government regulators that targeted Massey over the years, had kept a fairly low profile since the sale of Massey – at least until this trial dragged him back into the spotlight.
“The charges on (counts) two and three were hard to come to a conclusion; the sentences including strive and condone were worded perfectly to cover Massey as a whole”, Rose said.
Bruce Stanley, a Pittsburgh attorney who represented some members of the families of Upper Big Branch miners and widows of miners who died in the 2006 fire at Massey’s Aracoma mine in West Virginia, was disappointed with the verdict.
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