Blankenship Found Guilty on Conspiracy Charge, Acquitted of Making False

The jury found Blankenship guilty of conspiracy to violate mine safety regulations, which is a misdemeanor, but acquitted him on the more serious counts of deceiving investors and regulators.

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was found guilty Thursday of conspiring to violate mine safety standards. He was acquitted on two other charges of securities fraud and making false statements.

“Picture walking through a mine and seeing everywhere in the tunnels around you coal dust, knowing it’s explosive, knowing there’s an easy way to make it safe by putting down pure white rock dust on top of it, but the people in charge won’t take the time to do it”, Ruby said.

The deadliest USA mine disaster in four decades has been fleetingly referred to as “the explosion”, used as a reference point in time, then mentioned no further.

The jury ended its seventh full day of deliberations without a decision Tuesday.

In 2011, an independent investigation found that Blankenship had failed to implement proper safety standards at the mine and concluded the accident “was the result of failures of basic safety systems”. The truth that was common knowledge in the coalfields-that Don Blankenship cared little for the safety and health of miners working for his company and even less for the laws enforcing their rights-has finally been proven in court.

In his closing remarks, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin called Blankenship “an outlaw” and said he operated “a lawless empire”. The defense says it will argue to push back date by a week because lead defense attorney has plans to be out of the country.

There is no word on when Blankenship’s sentencing will be held. An explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine in April 2010 killed 29 miners in West Virginia. “Though you’re not convicted on all counts, you are convicted”, Judy Jones Petersen, whose brother Dean Jones was killed, was quoted as saying. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, said the former executive had “blood on his hands”.

In September of 2013, another former Massey executive, David Hughart, was sentenced to 42 months in prison in a separate plea agreement in which he “admitted to being part of a corporate conspiracy to evade surprise mine safety inspections by giving advance warning to miners underground”.

“Under Blankenship’s leadership, Massey repeatedly put profits before everything else, and Massey became one of the worst violators of our nation’s mine safety and environmental laws”. “This sends a message to all CEOs, owners and operators”.

On Thursday, Mr. Blankenship didn’t react when the verdict was read in a crowded courtroom, and he later declined to comment as he made his way through a pack of reporters.