CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The federal criminal trial of former Massey Energy boss Don Blankenship will enter a fourth day at the federal courthouse in Charleston still in search of enough potential jurors to come up with a final panel of 12.
MetroNews Legal Analyst Harvey Peyton said things seemed to move slower Monday than the first two days of jury selection last week. U.S. District Judge Irene Berger continued to interview potential jurors at her bench with prosecutors, defense attorneys and Blankenship close by. The media and spectators were in a separate courtroom with a video screen.
Much of the buzz at the courthouse Monday focused on a memo that has surfaced in recent days that allegedly warned Blankenship and other Massey officials about problems at Massey mines approximately a year before the 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine that killed 29 miners. Defense attorneys want federal projectors barred from using the memo as part of their opening statements.
The court is shooting for approximately three dozen potential jurors to end up at the required 12, Peyton said.
“You want smart people who can reason and figure things out. That’s your absolute best juror,” Peyton said. “Somebody who has some innate intelligence, has worked, is rooted in the community, makes a good appearance. This is somebody that if I were going to their garage and they told me I had something wrong with my car I would believe them because they make good sense.”
Blankenship is charged with three criminal counts allegedly he skirted mine safety laws in favor of production and that he lied to federal regulators after the UBB explosion about Massey’s safety record.