Jury heads into holiday without verdict in ex-coal CEO trial

The charges were brought against Blankenship in relation to the April 2010 explosion at Upper Big Branch coal mine in Montcoal, W.Va. Massey Energy owned the mine at the time and Blankenship was its CEO.

The once swaggering chief executive officer of a major American energy and mining company has been convicted by a jury in West Virginia on charges connected to a mining disaster in the state five years ago that left 29 men dead, opening the way to a possible prison sentence.

These separate plea deals preceded Blankenship’s conviction on conspiracy charges, which carry a maximum one year sentence which will potentially be determined on March 23 when U.S. District Judge Irene Berger set as a tentative date for a sentence hearing.

William Taylor, the top lawyer on Blankenship’s multimillion-dollar defense team, said he would appeal, but added that the defense wasn’t as disappointed as it could have been. Jurors started deliberations on November 17 after the defense rested its case without presenting any witnesses.

Sitting in court since early October, spectator Judy Jones Petersen has heard plenty from the defense about a former coal CEO’s safety concerns but not much about how 29 men died – including her brother – in a fiery mine blast under that executive’s watch. In December that year, the US Justice Department announced that Alpha had agreed to pay a record $209 million to settle a criminal probe into safety violations at the Upper Big Branch mine. He also was cleared of fraud charges for misleading regulators and investigators about the state of safety measures in the company’s mines, according to a report from Politico.

Despite Blankenship’s conviction, he said, “I don’t ever expect him to do any time over it. I don’t think he ever will”. “The case should have never been brought”, Taylor said.

“I kind of pulled over for a minute and I just dropped my head and thought to myself that [Blankenship] got by with exactly what he wanted to do”, Davis said.

“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”.

During the trial, which began October 1, prosecutors contended that Blankenship was a bullish micromanager who knew about and meddled in the smallest details of Upper Big Branch. But prosecutors argued that he fostered a system that gave Massey miners advance notice of mine inspections, and they used the time to cover up dangers. The government’s task was made easier by secret recordings Blankenship made of his meetings and phone calls.