A spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons says former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship has reported to a California prison to begin his one-year sentence.
Spokesman Justin Long says Blankenship is in custody Thursday at a federal facility in Taft, California.
According to the Bureau of Prisons’ website, the facility is operated by a private corporation.
Thursday was the deadline for Blankenship to report. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier Thursday denied a motion by his attorneys requesting that Blankenship remain free while he appeals his conviction.
Blankenship was sentenced April 6 to a year in prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine for conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch coal mine, which exploded in 2010, killing 29 men.
Ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, is scheduled to report to prison Thursday after being convicted of conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch coal mine, which exploded in 2010, killing 29 men.
A federal court has denied an emergency motion filed by attorneys for ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship requesting that he remain free while he appeals his conviction.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling Thursday morning, the same day Blankenship is due to report to start serving his one-year prison sentence. Blankenship’s attorneys have said he was scheduled to go to an unspecified California federal prison.
Blankenship was sentenced April 6 to a year in prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine for conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch coal mine, which exploded in 2010, killing 29 men.
Attorneys for former coal executive Don Blankenship want to delay his entry into prison this week.
In an emergency motion in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, Blankenship’s attorneys wrote that he’s slated to head to prison Thursday in California. But the court has not ruled on whether the former Massey Energy CEO should stay free until his larger appeal is decided.
Prosecutors replied that Blankenship’s motion is redundant.
Blankenship was sentenced April 6 to a year in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards at Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.
The coal mine exploded in 2010, killing 29 men.
Blankenship’s attorneys say he could serve much, or all, of his sentence before an appellate decision is reached.
A former coal company executive is asking an appeals court if he can remain free while appealing a case that dealt him a prison sentence.
Ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship on Tuesday asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to let him remain free on $1 million bond, pending appeal. Otherwise, Blankenship’s attorneys say he may serve much, or all, of his one-year sentence before a larger appellate decision is reached.
Blankenship was sentenced April 6 to the maximum prison time and fine of $250,000 for conspiring to willfully violate mine safety standards at Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. A jury convicted him Dec. 3.
A coal mine exploded there in 2010, killing 29 men.
When the United States Supreme Court ruled Monday not to consider the appeals before them against lower courts’ same sex marriage rulings that meant five…
When the United States Supreme Court ruled Monday not to consider the appeals before them against lower courts’ same sex marriage rulings that meant five new states could now issues marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
But that list of five states, Virginia, Utah, Indiana, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, does not include West Virginia. Well, at least not explicitly.
“It also is likely to mean that in the six additional states in the 4th and 7th and 10th judicial circuits, we are likely to soon see the ability of same sex couples to marry,” Jon Davidson, legal director with Lamdba Legal said during an informational conference call Monday night.
West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and North and South Carolina make up the 4th Judicial Circuit on the federal appellate court level, meaning a the ruling that Virginia’s same sex marriage ban is unconstitutional will now have legal implications in all of the other states in the circuit.
The final ruling on that, though, is left up to Federal District Court Judge Robert Chambers in Huntington. Chambers put a case challenging West Virginia’s same sex marriage ban on hold earlier this year saying he wanted to wait for the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Virginia case.
Camilla Taylor, Lambda Legal’s national marriage project director, said the organization immediately began filing documents in the West Virginia case asking the judge to rule against the ban.
A member of Chambers’ staff reportedly said Monday he would not immediately issue an opinion, but did not estimate when a final judgment would be released.
So, in West Virginia, the statute that defines marriage as between a man and a woman still stands and courts must uphold the law, but Fairness West Virginia Executive Director Andrew Schneider said he believes it’s just a matter of time before gay and lesbian couples in the state are afforded the same rights as straight couples.
“It’s just the right thing to do given the fact that so much of the country is now opening its doors to marriage equality,” Schneider said. “It’s well past time for West Virginia to do the same.”
In a press release Tuesday, Allen White, president of The Family Policy Council of West Virginia, a conservative policy group who lobbies the state legislature on social issues, said the court’s decision cost people of faith their First Amendment rights.
“Over the last 15 years, more than 40 million Americans in more than 30 states have voted at the ballot box to define marriage as one man and one woman,” White said, “and in the last 12 months some U.S. judges have attempted to erase those votes.”
In a historic move, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.The…
In a historic move, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
The decision was celebrated by pro-LGBT advocates in other states in the circuit, including West Virginia, but even they say it will take time before the decision impacts gay couples in the state.
As of now, 20 states and the District of Columbia issue licenses for same sex marriage. Many other states, districts and circuits are currently dealing with the issue in the court system.
The Decision:
The 4th Circuit’s ruling said that Virginia constitutional and statutory provisions barring gay marriage and denying recognition of such unions performed in other states violate the U.S. Constitution.
In February, U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled that Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban violates equal protection and due process guarantees. Lawyers for two circuit court clerks whose duties include issuing marriage licenses appealed.
The lawsuit was filed by two Norfolk men who were denied a marriage license and two Chesterfield County women whose marriage in California is not recognized by Virginia.
“We fully anticipate that now his decision will be consistent with what the 4th circuit has done,” Kelly Kimble, chair of Fairness West Virginia said, “because it wouldn’t make sense for him to rule contrary to that opinion and be overturned on appeal.”
The Next Step:
Ultimately, the 4th Circuit’s decision is just one piece in a complicated puzzle. As more and more state and federal judges begin to rule on laws against same-sex marriage, and those decisions are appealed up through the court system, it’s likely the Supreme Court will have the final word.
“This 4th Circuit decision can certainly be, I think we expect it to be, appealed to the Supreme Court just like the 10th Circuit before,” Kimble said.
“What will likely happen is that the Supreme Court will consolidate all of those cases and make one decision that’s going to apply to the entire nation.”
Kimble estimated we could see a decision from the high court as early as next year.
The Impact for W.Va.:
Don’t expect state lawmakers to go into session next year and rewrite West Virginia law based on this decision. That won’t happen, according to Delegate Stephen Skinner, the first openly gay member of the West Virginia Legislature.
But, should the Supreme Court overturn the West Virginia’s ban, there are issues legislators will face in making state laws compliant with the U.S. Constitution as the court interprets it.
“There are just many things that are not anticipated today that we’ll need to fix.”
The Human Rights Campaign, a national civil rights group working to achieve equality for LGBT communities, calculated more than 1,100 federal benefits for marriage. Skinner said the number of state benefits married couples receive hasn’t been calculated, but those are areas of code that lawmakers will have to update.
The benefits are things like tax credits, pensions, and visitation rights in hospitals, just to name a few. All things married couples are guaranteed and gay partners have no legal right to, at least not yet.
For now though, things will remain the same for gay couples in West Virginia. Judge Chambers’ decision could come within days, or take up to a year Skinner said. Then, it’s bound to be appealed and work its way through the federal court system.