Ex-con Don Blankenship responds to 'lies' about him by asking court to invalidate his guilty verdict

Don Blankenship, the convicted former coal baron who is now seeking the Republican nomination in the West Virginia Senate primary, plans to file a motion on Tuesday to try to have a 2015 guilty verdict against him invalidated, even though he lost a similar bid last October to have the Supreme Court review the conviction.

Blankenship is currently on probation after serving one year in federal prison for conspiring to violate mine safety standards. In a press release published Monday announcing the pending motion to overturn the guilty verdict, Blankenship’s campaign website states: “Lies about Don do not serve any good for West Virginia or its miners.”

Blankenship, who is seeking the Republican nomination to run against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), said in the statement that there is no way to predict the timing of any decision in response to his request to have the verdict “invalidated.” But the former Massey Energy CEO said his attorneys tell him that they expect the case will likely be “nullified or dismissed.”

A successful bid to get the guilty verdict nullified or dismissed could help Blankenship’s chances in a general election against Manchin if he wins the Republican primary.

Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/coal-baron-don-blankenship-seeks-to-overturn-conviction-b6df27564654/