CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The jury selection process continued Friday in the federal criminal trial of former Massey Energy president and CEO Don Blankenship, but it remained out of the hearing of media members and the general public.
Federal Judge Irene Berger continued to call potential jurors to the bench in her courtroom to ask them questions while reporters and others sat in another courtroom with a video feed.
MetroNews Legal Analyst Harvey Peyton said the media’s call for a different process may be a moot point soon.
“I think this thing is going to solve itself soon enough, because from what I saw today (Friday) progress was being made (in jury selection),” Peyton said. “It looks to me as if they are moving toward getting a panel…and it’s not going to be long in coming.”
The Charleston Gazette-Mail and West Virginia Public Broadcasting filed a joint motion with Judge Berger calling on her to further open the process. She ordered both federal prosecutors and Blankenship’s attorneys to respond. Blankenship’s team did so and wants the process to remain the same.
Peyton observed members of the jury pool Friday and said several of them seemed “quite tired of the process.”
“They are in a situation where they are watched constantly by marshals and court personnel. They are instructed repeatedly by the court not to speak to people, not to acknowledge or handshake,” Peyton said.
Jury selection will resume Monday morning. Peyton believes it will only take a few more days to seat a panel of 36 from which both sides can reduce to the final 12.
“Jury selection is important but the really important thing is confrontation and cross-examination of your accusers. That’s when the rubber hits the road,” Peyton said.
Blankenship, 65, faces three criminal charges for his alleged conduct both before and after the April 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County where 29 people were killed.