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Both sides rest as Blankenship trial nears climax

Charleston Gazette-Mail photo by F. Brian Ferguson Former Massey CEO Don Blankenship walks past members of the press as he returns to the Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse in Charleston from lunch on Monday. Blankenship’s defense team rested Monday without calling a witness.
Charleston Gazette-Mail photo by F. Brian Ferguson
Former Massey CEO Don Blankenship walks past members of the press as he returns to the Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse in Charleston from lunch on Monday. Blankenship’s defense team rested Monday without calling a witness.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Don Blankenship’s defense team on Monday rested its case without presenting any of its own witnesses, setting the stage for closing arguments on Tuesday in the landmark case in which the former Massey Energy CEO faces three felony counts related to activities at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine.

U.S. District Judge Irene Berger worked into the evening with prosecutors and defense lawyers to hear objections to the judge’s proposal for instructing the jurors about the laws that they are to apply to the case once deliberations begin.

Jurors were told to report back to the Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse at 9 a.m. Tuesday, but a precise schedule for the day’s events was not formally announced. Berger did agree to give each side two hours for their closing argument.

A more than three-hour hearing on the tedious details of jury instructions — called the “charge to the jury” — followed the morning’s surprise drama, when the defense abruptly announced it had no witnesses.

The government had just rested its case, and lead defense lawyer Bill Taylor then asked for a private bench conference with the judge. Blankenship attended the bench conference, and at one point Berger had him move to stand in front of her, and the judge appeared to speak directly to Blankenship for a few moments.

After the bench conference, Berger asked Taylor to call the defense’s first witness.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the defense rests…

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