Court upholds conviction in W.Va. mine explosion

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction of an ex-security chief who lied to investigators and ordered a subordinate to destroy documents after the 2010 explosion that killed 29 coal miners at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine.

Hughie Elbert Stover claimed there was no evidence he knowingly lied when he told investigators that miners were not alerted whenever inspectors arrived, but a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., disagreed.