Don Blankenship
Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship has been found guilty of misdemeanor conspiracy to violate mine safety laws in a U.S. District court in Charleston, WV. He was found not guilty of two felony charges against him.
The charges against Blankenship stemmed from an explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia on April 5, 2010. That explosion resulted in the deaths of 29 mine workers.
Federal prosecutors presented six weeks worth of evidence along with testimony from 27 witnesses in their case against the former executive. In turn, defense attorneys chose to call no witnesses on behalf of their client, allowing the case to be turned over to the jury on Tuesday(Nov. 17) afternoon.
The jury was then charged with weighing the evidence presented to decide whether or not Blankenship conspired to violate mine safety standards and deceive government inspectors as well as judge whether or not he had lied to the Securities and Exchanges Commission and Massey investors regarding the company’s safety practices in an attempt to halt the erosion of Massey stock.
On one occasion during their deliberations on Thursday(Nov. 19) afternoon, jurors sent word to the judge that they were unable to reach a decision and asked how much longer they were expected to continue. At that point, U.S. District Judge Irene Berger instructed them to return to their deliberations and try to reach a verdict in the case.
On Friday(Nov. 20), jurors sent a message to the judge asking for clarification of some wording in the charges against Blankenship. Soon after, defense lawyers asked the judge to declare a mistrial as it appeared the jury would be unable to reach a decision and they feared that, as the Thanksgiving holiday approached, some might rush to judgement just for the sake of ending the proceedings.
The request for the declaration of a mistrial was denied by the judge at that time and she once again instructed jurors to continue with their work.
Deliberations then stretched into a second week as jurors continued to consider the case on Monday and Tuesday(Nov. 23 & 24) of Thanksgiving week. After not reaching a verdict by late Tuesday afternoon, Judge Berger granted them the rest of the week off for the holiday.
The twelve person jury made up of eight women and four men returned to their duties the following Monday(Nov. 30).
All in all, jurors spent 10 days deliberating the case before passing their verdict on Thursday, December 3rd. Blankenship is scheduled for sentencing on March 23 of next year and could receive as much as one year imprisonment. However, the lawyer for the defendant stated after the ruling that he did not believe his client would spend even one day in jail as the charge he was found guilty of is a misdemeanor crime.
Blankenship once owned a prominent Dirt Late Model race team for his son, John, who drove as a regular on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series as well as in other select events. The team won multiple races during its existence, including the prestigious World 100 at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in September of 2013. The younger Blankenship was the LOLMDS Rookie of the Year in 2009 and placed as high as third in the final standings for that series in 2013.
At the end of the 2014 season, it was announced that Don Blankenship had opted to shut down his son’s racing operation. The team’s equipment was immediately put up for sale.
John Blankenship briefly returned to action in June of 2015 when he competed in the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora. A federal judge eased travel restrictions placed on the defendant and allowed Don Blankenship to leave the state of West Virginia to attend that race.
John Blankenship’s “Coal” sponsored car
