Post by Logan on Apr 7, 2016 6:29:19 GMT -6
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Standing before a federal judge, former coal company executive Don Blankenship expressed sorrow for the families of 29 men killed in his coal mine six years ago but contended that he committed no crime.
"I just want to make the point that these men were proud coal miners. They've been doing it a long time. And they'd want the truth of what happened there to be known," Blankenship said Wednesday, drifting closer toward mentioning his theory that an act of nature, not negligence, caused the deadly explosion in his mine.
The judge told him to stop talking about the explosion and handed down the stiffest sentence allowed for his misdemeanor conviction: one year in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Blankenship's words stung for the families on hand who lost loved ones in the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion, the deadliest U.S. mining disaster in four decades, and some of them yelled at him as he exited the courthouse into a swarm of TV cameras.
Read more here: www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article70241892.html
"I just want to make the point that these men were proud coal miners. They've been doing it a long time. And they'd want the truth of what happened there to be known," Blankenship said Wednesday, drifting closer toward mentioning his theory that an act of nature, not negligence, caused the deadly explosion in his mine.
The judge told him to stop talking about the explosion and handed down the stiffest sentence allowed for his misdemeanor conviction: one year in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Blankenship's words stung for the families on hand who lost loved ones in the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion, the deadliest U.S. mining disaster in four decades, and some of them yelled at him as he exited the courthouse into a swarm of TV cameras.
Read more here: www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article70241892.html