Don Blankenship Trial: Former Coal CEO Found Guilty Of Conspiring To Violate

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a five-year investigation into the UBB disaster, suppressing the details of its findings and the results of its interviews from the public in the name of protecting the ongoing investigation.

The jury deliberated for a fifth full day in U.S. District Court in Charleston, West Virginia.

He was tried on charges of conspiring to break safety laws and defrauding mine regulators at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch Mine, and lying to financial regulators and investors about safety. “I was hoping he’d be guilty on all three counts”.

Jurors have found former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship guilty of conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards, a misdemeanor charge that carries up to a year of jail time.Blankenship faces a maximum $250K fine and up to a year in prison; sentencing is set for March 23.

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

Though convicted, Blankenship actually got off fairly light. We fully expect the Court of Appeals will agree.

While the verdict was a partial defeat for prosecutors, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said it should send a signal to other executives. “This is a landmark day for the safety of coal miners”.

The case is a rare instance of the US holding a chief executive accountable for fatalities in the workplace.

With today’s verdict, Blankenship reportedly becomes “the most prominent American coal executive ever to be convicted of a charge connected to the deaths of miners”, according to the New York Times.

On Thursday, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez praised the verdict, saying it sent a message that “there must be accountability when people lose their lives because of the neglect of their employer”.

He added, “In this case, it is long overdue”. Blankenship retired from Massey later that year. “Every time you hear ‘Massey, ‘ you should be thinking: ‘defendant’s criminal conspiracy to break the law and run coal'”. Mr. Blankenship was indicted several months later, in November of a year ago.

Near the now-shuttered Upper Big Branch Mine in the small community of Whitesville, retired coal miner Tim Bonds said Thursday that he had expected a mistrial.

And prosecutors noted that justice isn’t only measured by the prison sentence.

A verdict is reached in the case against former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship on Thursday.

Petersen said she was in disbelief when the defense rested Monday without calling a single witness.

“You don’t want to do anything to jeopardize this”, said Shirley Whitt, whose brother Boone Payne died in the explosion. “We don’t convict them of crimes because they’re rich or rude or they’re tough”.

Jones, 50, was a mining engineer with a loving family waiting for him at home.

“This is, to my knowledge, unprecedented”, Goodwin said. That same explosion that wrecked and shook that mountain, shook the very foundation of my life.