A federal magistrate on Monday lowered the bond of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, ruling he's free to travel throughout the United States while awaiting sentencing for violating federal mine safety and health standards.
U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Clarke VanDervort ordered Blankenship's bond set at $1 million, compared to the $5 million bond set last year when Blankenship was indicted on a handful of charges which could have resulted in a maximum 30 year prison sentence.
Blankenship faces up to a year in prison and fines when he is sentenced. After a two month trial, a jury convicted him on Dec. 3 of one of three counts, a charge of conspiracy to violate federal standards at the Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 workers died in an April 2010 explosion.
Jurors cleared him of two felonies - making a false statement and securities fraud - and found that the conspiracy he was guilty of involved the goal of violating mine safety standards, not of thwarting government inspectors, which would have been a felony.
Attorneys for Blankenship had requested after the trial that the magistrate judge reduce the bond to $250,000.
Prosecutors had urged VanDervort not to lower the bond, arguing that he is a flight risk because the potential monetary sanctions "could reach tens of millions of dollars" and could bankrupt Blankenship.
VanDervort had previously also restricted Blankenship's travel to Southern West Virginia and Washington, D.C. to meet with his lawyers.
The order Monday states Blankenship may reside "at his home in Las Vegas" and "travel as he pleases within the continental United States."
Prosecutors have argued that Blankenship doesn't own a home in Las Vegas, and traveled so frequently prior to being charged that it was difficult to say where he actually resided.
VanDervort had already approved Blankenship's request to go to Nevada for Christmas and New Year's without giving prosecutors an opportunity to respond to the request.
The order Monday states that Blankenship "must remain available to and in contact with his supervising probation officer(s) and notify his supervising probation officer(s) of his travel plans prior to traveling as allowed."
The order also lifts prior restrictions on Blankenship having contact with people who participated in the investigations into Massey Energy or the Upper Big Branch mine.
Blankenship's lawyers have said they plan to appeal his conviction.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.