Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumSupreme Court leaves Don Blankenship conviction in place
Source: Associated Press
Supreme Court leaves Don Blankenship conviction in place
October 3, 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court says it wont review the conviction of former coal CEO Don Blankenship, who was found guilty of conspiring to violate safety standards at West Virginias Upper Big Branch mine before the 2010 explosion that killed 29 men.
The justices said Monday they would not take the case of the former CEO of Massey Energy who spent a year in prison following his conviction stemming from the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in 40 years. That leaves in place lower court decisions rejecting his efforts to get his misdemeanor conviction thrown out. As is typical, the high court did not explain its decision and denied the case among a long list of others. Monday is the first day of the courts new term.
A federal jury in West Virginia convicted Blankenship in 2015 of conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards but acquitted him of more serious charges. He was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $250,000.
In 2019, however, a federal magistrate judge recommended that Blankenships conviction be thrown out. The judge agreed with Blankenship that his rights were violated because prosecutors didnt turn over evidence that was favorable to him. That included FBI and Department of Labor interviews with Massey employees. A government review separately found that some material should have been turned over.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-decisions-coal-mining-don-blankenship-government-and-politics-b4883d6e899f989b229a1600285fd4f3
Alexander Of Assyria
(7,839 posts)And the Penn. election case turning away MAGA redistricting does not bode well for MAGA coup 2.0.
SalamanderSleeps
(589 posts)There's a lot of MAGA dung under their robes.
JohnSJ
(92,376 posts)Perhaps my assumption is wrong, but when the voting rights issues come up, we will see
BComplex
(8,064 posts)He was their patsy to turn this country into a totalitarian state, and now they have no use for him.
Mopar151
(9,992 posts)They can flush him, with few consequences. Also,I think he's dead.