Federal prosecutors want a convicted former coal company CEO to serve one year in jail in addition to paying a $250,000 fine for a West Virginia mine disaster that killed 29 men in 2010.
Prosecutors said the one-year prison term is justified for former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s conspiracy to avoid mine safety laws, but “woefully insufficient” given the crime, according to a court memorandum filed Monday evening in federal court. There is a cap of up to one year for the crime, but anything less would be interpreted as a “declaration that mine safety laws are not to be taken seriously,” prosecutors argue.Blankenship was convicted Dec. 3 of a misdemeanor conspiracy to violate mine safety standards at the Upper Big Branch Mine, which resulted in a explosion that killed more than two dozen miners. Prosecutors said Blankenship made a “cold-blooded decision to gamble with the lives of the men and women who worked for him.”
Blankenship’s attorneys said he should not receive any sentence more than probation and a fine, and they intend to appeal his sentence.
The former CEO will be sentenced April 6, which news reports point out is the day after the sixth anniversary of the Upper Big Branch disaster.
