The prosecutor on former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s case is Sen. Joe Manchin’s pick for U.S. attorney.
A spokesman for Manchin told the Charleston Gazette-Mail that Manchin wants Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Ruby to replace former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin.
Goodwin left the Southern District of West Virginia job for a gubernatorial bid.
The president nominates Goodwin’s replacement. The U.S. Senate confirms the nominee.
It’s unclear if the Republican-controlled Senate would consider any nomination before President Obama leaves office.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s spokeswoman said she would support Ruby’s nomination, pending appropriate vetting.
Ruby said he wouldn’t comment on any possible nomination at this point.
Ruby landed convictions of Blankenship and several other ex-Massey officials after a deadly blast killed 29 men at Upper Big Branch in 2010.
Jurors returned a split verdict Thursday in the trial of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship finding him guilty on a misdemeanor charge of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws.
In the final episode of the podcast “Blankenship on Trial,” host Scott Finn discusses the verdict, its implications and what comes next with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Ashton Marra and Charleston attorney and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Hissam.
The misdemeanor count could mean up to one year of jail time for the former coal executive.
Blankenship was also found not guilty on two felony counts, the first for lying to investors, the second for lying to federal securities officials about Massey’s safety record following the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 men and sparked the investigation into Massey and later its CEO.
The two felony charges held a combined max sentence of 25 yeas, much more than what Blankenship is facing.
As jurors begin to deliberate a verdict in the trial of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, all eyes in West Virginia turn to Charleston.
More than six weeks after the trial began on Oct. 1, jurors will weigh testimony and evidence on whether Blankenship conspired to violate federal mine safety standards and lied to investors about the safety record of his company following the April 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster.
Here are four things to know as the trial comes to a close and jurors deliberate on a verdict:
1. The charges: Explained.
Blankenship was originally indicted in November 2014 by federal prosecutors on four counts. Two of the charges were streamlined together in March 2015 and the total was reduced to three.
The charges against Blankenship are:
Conspiracy to willfully violate mandatory federal mine safety standards or to defraud the United States
Knowingly and willfully making or causing to be made a materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement related to a material matter within the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Willfully, knowingly, and with the intent to defraud making or causing to be made untrue statements of material fact or omissions of material fact in connection with the sale or purchase of securities
If convicted on all charges, Blankenship faces 30 years in prison. He has maintained his innocent since the charges were filed. It should also be noted that Blankenship is not charged in the death of the 29 miners at Upper Big Branch.
2. The defense called no witnesses.
In a surprise move Monday morning, Blankenship’s defense team rested its case without calling a single witness. Former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia and Charleston attorney Mike Hissam called the strategy “highly unusual” but also said it might allow them to go “on the offensive” in attacking the government’s case.
Credit Dave Mistich / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Don Blankenship leaves the Charleston federal courthouse on October 1, 2015 for a lunch amidst a break during jury selection.
3. The prosecution’s witnesses were wide-ranging.
Prosecutors called 27 witnesses over the course of 24 days of testimony. Witnesses included FBI special agent James Lafferty, former Massey safety specialist Bill Ross, former Performance Coal Company operator (the Massey-owned company that was responsible for the Upper Big Branch mine) Chris Blanchard and miners who worked at the Upper Big Branch mine.
4. A key witness for the prosecution spent days on the stand.
Chris Blanchard took the stand for the prosecution under an immunity agreement with the government. However, Blanchard’s testimony was a surprise to the prosecution when Blankenship’s defense team questioned him during cross examination.
According to an Oct. 30 report from the Associated Press, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Ruby told Judge Irene Berger: “Much of what the witness said in [cross-examination] was a surprise to the United States.”
In a second line of questioning, Ruby asked Blanchard to double-check his 2014 grand jury testimony.
The defense entered a motion to also question Blanchard a second time, although Judge Berger denied that request.
Credit Ashton Marra / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Federal prosecutors are investigating the handling of evidence in a Mingo County drug case linked to a corruption probe.
Mingo County Sheriff James Smith tells the Charleston Daily Mail that a former deputy delivered a box of evidence to the sheriff’s department on Monday afternoon. The delivery came several hours after a circuit court judge dismissed the drug charges against George White of Delbarton.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby tells the newspaper that federal prosecutors are investigating.
One of White’s attorneys, David Barney, and Boone County prosecutor Keith Randolph say they don’t think the evidence would have had an impact on White’s case. Randolph served as special prosecutor for the case.
