Massey CEO Wins Delay of Criminal Trial Until April

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Ex-Massey Energy chief Donald Blankenship won an almost three-month delay of his trial, scheduled to begin later this month, on federal charges tied to a fatal 2010 mine explosion that was the worst U.S. coal industry disaster in 40 years.

A West Virginia judge Monday agreed to push back Blankenship’s Jan. 26 trial until April to give his lawyers more time to counter accusations the coal baron hampered safety inspections of the Upper Big Branch mine, where an April 2010 blast killed 29 miners.

Blankenship is accused in a four-count indictment of conspiring to ignore basic mine-safety measures, such as controlling explosive dust and providing proper ventilation, to increase coal production.

Blankenship’s lawyers told U.S. District Judge Irene Berger last month their client would waive his right to a speedy trial. Prosecutors opposed the ex-chief executive officer’s bid to delay the case. Berger scheduled the trial for April 20 in Beckley, West Virginia.

Judges often grant requests to waive a statute requiring that criminal trials be held within 70 days of charges being filed, said Andrew Frisch, a former federal prosecutor in New York who now represents white-collar criminal defendants.

“Federal judges are usually very solicitous of defendants’ requests” to delay trials, especially in complicated cases, Frisch said in a phone interview.

Mine Safety

If convicted, Blankenship faces as long as 31 years in prison, according to court filings.

William Taylor III, Blankenship’s Washington-based defense lawyer, didn’t immediately return a call for comment on the delay.

Shane Arrington, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin in Charleston, West Virginia, said he couldn’t comment because of a gag order Berger placed on lawyers and witnesses.

In the 43-page indictment, federal prosecutors said their evidence shows Blankenship routinely instructed company executives to focus on coal-extraction and turn a blind eye to safety problems.

Blankenship ordered executives to alert managers and miners when federal inspectors were onsite so that safety violations could be hidden, the prosecutors allege. Workers were threatened with the loss of their jobs if they reported violations, the prosecutors said.

Blankenship stepped down as Massey’s top executive in December 2010 with a $12 million retirement package. The coal company was acquired in 2011 by Alpha Natural Resources Inc. for $7.1 billion.

Powerful Figure

The 64-year-old Blankenship was a major power in the coal industry and West Virginia politics during his 28-year career and frequently clashed with federal regulators and the United Mine Workers union.

He was accused of using more than $3 million in political contributions to help a West Virginia Supreme Court judge get elected in 2004. That judge was the deciding vote in a split decision to overturn a $50 million jury award against Massey stemming from a business dispute with a rival coal supplier.

Blankenship is the highest-ranking former Massey executive to face charges over the company’s business practices and its handling of the Upper Big Branch mine.

David Hughart, another Massey executive, was convicted in 2013 of conspiring to violate mine safety laws in connection with the disaster. Hughart was sentenced to more than three years in prison for misleading mine inspectors.

The case is U.S. v. Blankenship, 14-cr-00244, U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia (Beckley).