Lawyers say Blankenship conviction should stand

Lawyers for the Department of Justice argued in federal court that former Massey Energy CEO Don Blakenship’s criminal mine safety conviction should not be overturned. Blankenship claims that information was withheld that would have changed the outcome of his 2015 trial. Prosecutors say the information was available, and there’s no reason to believe the jury would have reached a different verdict. Blankenship spent a year in prison for conspiring to violate safety standards at Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 miners died in 2010.