Patty Quarles, who lost her son Gary Quarles in the UBB explosion, and Sherry Depoy, who’s brother Howard Payne was also killed in the explosion, shed tears after Don Blankenship was sentenced to one year in prison for conspiring to willfully violate mine safety and health standards. He will also serve one year of supervised release and will pay a $250,000 fine. The judge ordered no restitution.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Just before he was sentenced Wednesday to one year in prison, former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship offered his condolences to the families of the 29 miners who died April 5, 2010, at the Upper Big Branch mine explosion.
But many of those family members said those words were too little, too late.
Families were not allowed to read victim impact statements during the proceeding, but they got their say as Blankenship exited the courthouse.
As a crowd of family members and media gathered, Tommy Davis yelled, “Out of six years, six years I missed my son, my brother, my nephew, how come you never come and apologized to me personally?”
Several other family members chimed in that they’d never received apologies from Blankenship either…
