Federal magistrate recommends tossing Blankenship's 2015 mine safety conviction

CHARLESTON – In a rare legal move, a federal magistrate says Don Blankenship’s 2016 conviction for conspiring to violate mine safety laws should be tossed out.

In a filing released Aug. 26, Magistrate Omar Aboulhosn said the federal government failed to turn over evidence that could have helped the former Massey Energy CEO’s case.

“It’s obviously good news,” Blankenship told The West Virginia Record. “But still, the U.S. judicial system did what it thought was in its best interest.”

In his filing, Aboulhosn also said he did not find evidence that former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin nor Assistant U.S. attorney Steve Ruby acted with ulterior motives while prosecuting the case and that they did not have improper motive or malice toward Blankenship.

Read more: https://wvrecord.com/stories/513240763-federal-magistrate-recommends-tossing-blankenship-s-2015-mine-safety-conviction