Ex-coal CEO Blankenship convicted on 1 count, acquitted on 2

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.

Local U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin called ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship an outlaw in his closing remarks, telling jurors he operated one of the nation’s largest coal producers as a “lawless enterprise”. Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015.

Before Judge Irene C. Berger read the verdict aloud in a crowded courtroom, relatives of the dead miners sat in the front row, their arms sometimes trembling as they bowed their heads in silent prayer.

Blankenship was found guilty of conspiracy to violate mine safety laws, but cleared on two counts of making false statements about Massey safety procedures to the Securities and Exchange Commission and investors.

On Thursday, a jury convicted former Massey Energy chief executive Don Blankenship on a charge of conspiracy to break safety regulations, but not guilty of the two securities charges.

Blankenship’s top attorney, William Taylor, told jurors in his opening statement “there’s no secret that the Upper Big Branch mine had a bad tragedy and 29 men lost their lives”.

“We don’t convict people in this country on the basis of maybes”, said Taylor.

“This is, to my knowledge, unprecedented”, Goodwin said. Time and time again the defendant chose to put profits over safety.

The authorities say Blankenship, 65, closely managed the Upper Big Branch mine, which was linked to hundreds of safety violations.

“Though you’re not convicted on all counts, you are convicted”, said Judy Jones Petersen, whose brother Dean Jones was killed. A prosecutor, Steven R. Ruby, had asked that Blankenship be jailed or confined to his home until sentencing.

“I’m just very hurt”, she said by telephone. “He was only 25”.

His multimillion-dollar defense team said the government had no evidence Blankenship was involved in a conspiracy. “I hope everyone of those miners visits him in his dreams”. “But a message has gone out today to every coal operator in America who is willing to skirt mine safety and health laws: you do so at your own personal risk”, Roberts said. “Although the jury was not presented with the question whether Blankenship was directly responsible for the explosion, it did decide that he played Russian roulette with his miners’ lives”.

MARRA: No further charges are expected in the Massey investigation.

Alpha Natural Resources, itself now in bankruptcy, bought Massey in 2011 and paid a total of $46.5 million to survivors and miners injured in the blast.

For more than five years, Mullins said he waited for justice, now he fears that day may never come.