Appeals judges probe ex-coal boss’s mine explosion conviction

A panel of federal judges hearing Don Blankenship’s appeal of his criminal conviction on Wednesday asked especially tough questions of the former coal executive’s defense attorney, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. 

Blankenship has appealed his conviction and yearlong prison sentence relating to the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia, in which 29 miners died after an underground explosion. Blankenship was convicted last year of conspiring to break mining safety and health laws.

{mosads}But Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy Corp., appealed his conviction, accusing a federal court of legal errors that led to an unfair decision against him. 

Among those accusations are claims that jurors received improper instructions from the court and that prosecutors did not name specific laws he was said to have broken. 

But a panel of judges on the 4th Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals were tough on the lawyer arguing Blankenship’s case on Wednesday, with one even listing a series of mine safety violations to prove there was a “willfulness” to actions, the Gazette-Mail reported.  

Mine safety laws, Judge James Wynn told Blankenship’s lawyer, “are there for a reason, and it’s not so that equipment will run better. It’s to protect individuals.”

A decision on Blankenship’s appeal could take months.

Blankenship reported to a federal prison in California for a one-year sentence in May after a court denied his request to remain free while he appeals his conviction. Since then, he has cast himself as a “political prisoner” and the victim of vindictive labor unions, the federal government and the court system.