In this photo from May 20, 2010, Don Blankenship arrives to testify at the U.S. Senate Health and Human Services subcommittee hearing on mine safety. A federal judge on Wednesday refused to lift a gag order in the federal case against Blankenship.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal judge on Wednesday declined to lift a gag order that restricts access to most court records in former Massey Energy Co. CEO Don Blankenship’s criminal case.
U.S. District Judge Irene Berger did agree to again make the indictment charging Blankenship public through the court’s computer system and to allow public access to orders in the case, but Berger also ordered that other documents “that contain information or argument as to the facts and substance of the case” continue to be sealed.
In an 18-page opinion, Berger said her action limiting access to information about the case is necessary to ensure that Blankenship can get a fair trial.
“It is deep-rooted that a defendant’s right to a fair trial is a compelling interest,” the judge wrote. “Indeed it is the very bedrock of our criminal law jurisprudence.”
Berger concluded that there is “a substantial probability” that her order “will help insure the court’s ability to seat an impartial jury.”
Blankenship faces a four-count indictment that alleges he conspired to violate mine safety rules, hamper federal safety enforcement and lied to securities regulators and investors. The indictment focuses on events at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, in Raleigh County, where 29 miners died in an explosion on April 5, 2010…