Blankenship Lawyers Want Some Testimony Excluded

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship’s lawyers say his compensation and stock holdings and the testimony of a former subordinate are irrelevant to his criminal case and should be excluded from his trial. Defense lawyers argue that evidence of Blankenship’s finances and testimony from David Hughart, a former president of Massey subsidiary White Buck Coal Co., would unfairly prejudice the jury. Hughart was sentenced in 2013 to 3½ years in prison on conspiracy charges that grew out of the criminal investigation into the 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion, which killed 29 men. Blankenship’s trial begins October 1.