March 18, 2016
Federal prosecutors who secured the misdemeanor conspiracy conviction of Massey Energy ex-CEO Don Blankenship after an explosion that killed 29 miners said Friday they are not ready for his April 6 sentencing because he won't disclose any information about his finances.
December 16, 2015
Prosecutors urged a West Virginia federal court Wednesday to reject coal magnate Don Blankenship's bid for relaxed bond conditions following his conspiracy conviction this month, saying the fact that he faces "tens of millions" in penalties makes him a flight risk.
December 10, 2015
Former coal executive Donald Blankenship, who is awaiting sentencing on charges that he conspired to violate mine safety rules at a Massey Energy Co. mine before a 2010 explosion there killed 29 workers, will be allowed to travel to Nevada to visit family for Christmas and New Year's festivities, a West Virginia federal judge ruled Thursday.
December 09, 2015
West Virginia coal magnate Don Blankenship asked a federal judge Tuesday to let him go home for the holidays and to knock down his bail to $250,000 from $5 million, after a jury convicted him of blocking safety measures at a Massey Energy mine before a deadly 2010 explosion.
December 03, 2015
Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship's conspiracy conviction related to a coal mine explosion that claimed the lives of 29 workers capped a trial that was striking not only for the rare prosecution for a top corporate executive but also for the role that audio recordings of his candid, irreverent remarks on mine safety regulation likely played in the jurors' decision, attorneys say.
December 03, 2015
A federal jury on Thursday found West Virginia coal magnate Don Blankenship guilty of a misdemeanor charge of systematically blocking safety measures at a Massey Energy coal mine before an explosion there killed 29 people, but cleared him of two more serious securities-related felony charges.
December 01, 2015
Jurors deliberating in the criminal trial of former Massey Energy coal magnate Don Blankenship are deadlocked and have been given the "dynamite charge" that commands holdout jurors to reconsider, according to Blankenship's attorney.
November 20, 2015
Media are once again fighting for access to information in the trial of former West Virginia coal baron Don Blankenship, making a request Friday that U.S. District Judge Irene Berger hand out jurors' names and addresses even as they continue to deliberate.
November 19, 2015
The judge overseeing former West Virginia coal baron Don Blankenship's trial over safety at a mine where 29 workers died in an explosion ordered jurors on Thursday to continue mulling the criminal charges against Blankenship, after the jury told her they couldn't unite on a verdict after fewer than two days of deliberations.
November 18, 2015
Jurors deliberating in the trial of former coal magnate Don Blankenship will hear his corner-office audio recordings on Thursday morning, a federal judge has ruled, as they try to decide whether he's guilty of driving safety violations at a Massey Energy Co. mine where an explosion killed 29 people in 2010.