CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The man who aided in putting former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship in federal prison had harsh words for the 67-page letter Blankenship is sending out to every state legislator in America.
“Yet another screed that advances debunked theory after debunked theory,” former U.S. Prosecutor Booth Goodwin said on Thursday’s edition of MetroNews “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval. “All of this stuff has been advanced before and thoroughly discredited.”
A jury convicted Blankenship in U.S. federal court last December in Charleston on one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to violate mine safety laws–more than five years after the Upper Big Branch mine disaster claimed 29 lives.
“We did have sufficient evidence to convict Blankenship of wilfully violating mine safety laws,” Goodwin said. “I mean, he was the leader of a conspiracy to promote lawlessness across an entire enterprise.”
Blankenship is nearly midway through a one-year prison sentence in a California federal prison.
“Instead of reflecting on the hurt and the pain that he has caused, this is how he chooses to spend his time,” Goodwin said. “It’s just incredible.”
On Wednesday, Blankenship released the 67-page statement on his website that describes the former coal boss as an “American Political Prisoner.”
“This is not an uncommon occurrence for person’s who have been tried or even convicted on their own plea of guilty,” MetroNews legal analyst Harvey Peyton said Thursday morning on “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval. “In this case, the man who was tried and convicted by a jury finds himself in a situation that’s quite uncomfortable. He’s in prison.”
Peyton described the Blankenship statement as “nothing more than a prison letter.”
“He is in prison,” Peyton said. “He has lost his freedom. He’s been in prison for a year after being convicted of a criminal offense against the United States. What he says, he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t have to like it. He’s certainly entitled to express himself, but at the end of the day he is in prison.”
“I don’t think it’s any more than that, honestly. I think it’s maybe a pimple on the face of life.”
Among the litany of accusations Blankenship made in the letter, he believes federal prosecutors acted unfairly too him.
“Prosecutor’s job is, if they believe there has been a violation of the criminal laws, to diligently pursue their duty and see those that violate the laws are brought to justice,” Peyton said.
Oral arguments in Blankenship’s appeal begin later this month in front of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.