A former resources executive appealed against a court ruling against him over dozens of employee fatalities at a coal operation.
Donald Blankenship recently tried to overturn a conviction in relation to a 2010 explosion that killed 29 workers at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Coal Mine, about 65km south of Charleston.
Blankenship, who was chief executive at the time of the blast, claimed he never should have been found guilty of conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards.
The 72-year-old accused federal prosecutors of failing to share vital evidence to his legal team before the trial began back in 2015. The documents in question included memos summarising interviews with management and internal Mine Safety and Health Administration records according to Reuters. He ended up being charged with one misdemeanour, was fined $250,000 and served a one-year prison sentence.
The US Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility investigated the complaint and agreed that prosecutors indeed exhibited professional misconduct, “poor judgment”, and were “deficient” in performing duties. A federal magistrate judge also recommended in 2019 that Blankenship’s conviction be overturned, because federal prosecutors violated his constitutional right to a fair trial by withholding evidence.
However, a federal trial judge ultimately upheld the conviction because the withheld evidence would not have affected the final verdict.
Federal investigators previously identified methane or a natural gas leak as the most likely causes of fire that caused a blast at the now-closed mining operation. Twenty-nine out of 31 employees died at the mine site, representing the nation’s highest death toll since 91 perished from a 1972 Idaho mine fire.
Alpha Natural Resources acquired Massey, the mine site and other assets for about US$7 billion (A$10.7B) during 2011.
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