Latest News, WV Press Videos

Blankenship pleads not guilty, released on $5M bail

AP file photo from The Charleston Gazette Don Blankenship testifies before the U.S. Senate Health and Human Services subcommittee hearing on mine safety, on May 20, 2010.
AP file photo from The Charleston Gazette
Don Blankenship testifies before the U.S. Senate Health and Human Services subcommittee hearing on mine safety, on May 20, 2010.

BECKLEY, W.Va. — Longtime Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship pleaded not guilty Thursday to criminal charges that he conspired to put coal production and profits ahead of miner safety at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 workers died in an April 2010 explosion.

“Not guilty,” Blankenship said in a courtroom filled with news media and with family members of the miners killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster.

U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Clarke VanDervort set a trial date for Jan. 26, and Blankenship was released after he posted a $5 million surety bond the judge required to assure Blankenship will appear for that trial.

Blankenship stands accused of conspiring to violate mine safety rules and hamper federal safety enforcement and lying to stock market regulators and to investors. Last week, a federal grand jury indicted Blankenship after a more than four-year investigation by U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin following the April 5, 2010, disaster at Upper Big Branch.

If convicted of the three felonies and one misdemeanor he’s charged with, Blankenship, 64, would face a combined maximum sentence of 31 years in prison.

Wearing a dark, striped suit and red tie, Blankenship smiled slightly when he walked into the courtroom, and nodded toward several rows of reporters seated just behind the defense table. Blankenship drummed his fingers on a stack of documents on the table and leaned back with his arm draped over the back of his chair. He joked with his attorneys.

“I prefer to attend,” Blankenship told VanDervort when the judge asked if he wanted to waive his right to be present for all pre-trial court proceedings.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby asked VanDervort to require Blankenship to post bail of $5 million in cash and urged the judge to limit Blankenship to residing, pending trial, in an undisclosed local address — Ruby called it “Residence Number 1” — and to limit his travel to the Southern District of West Virginia, Pike County, Kentucky, or to meet with his legal team that’s based in Washington, D.C. Ruby also asked that Blankenship be ordered to have no contact with any victims or potential witnesses, including any former Massey officials or employees.

Erick Delinsky, one of Blankenship’s lawyers, said Blankenship would agree to the $5 million bail, but that Blankenship is now a resident of Nevada and wanted to be able to “return home…

Comments are closed.

West Virginia Press Newspaper Network " "

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

And get our latest content in your inbox

Invalid email address