Ex-coal CEO Blankenship convicted on misdemeanor count

Jurors did not convict Blankenship of a more serious conspiracy charge to defraud federal mine safety regulators, which could have netted five years in prison.

Blankenship was acquitted of two counts of making false statements, meaning he’ll now face far less than the potential 30-year prison term prosecutors sought over the 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine, which killed 29 miners.

The jury of eight women and four men was not asked to decide directly whether Blankenship was guilty or not guilty in the deaths of the 29 miners at Upper Big Branch in 2010.

Prosecutors had portrayed Blankenship as a CEO who routinely put profit before the safety of his employees.

His attorneys said there was no evidence Blankenship was involved in a conspiracy.

There is no word on when Blankenship’s sentencing will be held.

Jurors sent U.S. District Judge Irene Berger a note Wednesday afternoon saying one juror was ill, and she dismissed them for the day a few hours early.

It’s a starkly different scene from the fourth anniversary of the April 2010 blast, when some Upper Big Branch families circled outside the same courthouse, many with Blankenship’s photo on wild-west style signs that blared, “WANTED for Murder”.

Legal experts said the case highlights the relative weakness of the nation’s workplace-safety laws, in which a conspiracy to violate the law is a misdemeanor.

The misdemeanor count could mean up to one year of jail time for the former coal executive.

Mr. Blankenship was the CEO of Massey Energy Company, an extractor that, at one point, was the fourth biggest producer of coal in the U.S. and had thousands of safety citations.

Blankenship is expected to file an appeal.

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. “I think the consequences will send ripple effects through the industry, and not just mining”, said Davitt McAteer, who had headed the investigation of the mining site, reported the Washington Post.

“It brings justice that is long overdue”, he said. “You can’t always, in fact, you often can’t measure justice by the length of a prison sentence or the amount of time a defendant does”, Ruby said.

Blankenship’s lawyers did not present a single witness.

This is an artist sketch of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, right and his attorney Bill Taylor as they listen to the verdict in his trial at Federal court in Charleston, W.Va., Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015.

Prosecutors made their case with Blankenship’s own voice, using phone calls he secretly recorded in his Massey office.

The second paragraph of this story has been corrected to say Blankenship was acquitted of other counts.