Mr. Blankenship was facing 40 years in prison for lying to Wall Street but only up to one year for conspiring to violate mine safety laws, which “probably tells us all we need to know”, he said.
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University of Maryland Law Professor Rena Steinzor, author of Why Not Jail?: Industrial Catastrophes, Corporate Malfeasance, and Government Inaction, said that “justice was done today by a hard working jury in West Virginia that convicted Don Blankenship of conspiracy to obstruct federal mine safety rules”. He is charged with conspiring to break safety laws at the mine and lying about company safety efforts to investors and financial regulators.
“I have all the respect in hell that at least somebody was able to say, ‘Wait a minute, that isn’t right, ‘” says Bruce Stanley, who represented Caperton in his suit against Massey.
After the 2010 blast caused Massey’s stock to tank, prosecutors alleged in two additional felony counts that Mr. Blankenship lied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and to investors in a company news release that stated Massey didn’t condone safety violations.
“We wanted to be acquitted on all counts, but the fact the jury acquitted him on all felonies and convicted only on the misdemeanor is some consolation”, WCHS reported attorney Bill Taylor as saying. He also said most Upper Big Branch violations could have been prevented by hiring more miners or spending more time on safety tasks.
Blankenship, who has maintained that his prosecution was politically-motivated, is expected to be sentenced in March. Moreover, they said that Massey’s safety record was not almost as grave as prosecutors made it seem.
Toward the end of 2013, Massey executive David Hughart was found guilty of tipping off officials at Massey mines about safety inspections.
Once upon a time Don Blankenship was arguably the most powerful man in West Virginia.
“We’re disappointed but not as disappointed as we could have been”, Blankenship’s attorney William Taylor said after the verdict was read.
It was a verdict that echoed across the coal fields Thursday as families of miners killed at Upper Big Branch learned Blankenship’s fate. Massey Energy’s parent company, Alpha Natural Resources, paid $209 million to those affected by the disaster, according to the Washington Post. “The blood of these 29 people is on your hands”.
Judy Jones Petersen, who lost her brother Dean Jones in the mine explosion, told the Associated Press she believed justice was served.
Throughout the trial and the years leading up to it, relatives of the victims have called for the former executive to receive a prison term.
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Asked for a comment after the trial, Blankenship just winked. “This sends a message to all CEOs, owners and operators”.
