The prosecution and conviction of former Massey Energy Co. CEO Don Blankenship for conspiracy to violate mine safety rules - labeled a landmark case by legal experts and mine safety advocates - came under fire Tuesday from somewhat unusual quarters: The campaign of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice, himself a controversial coal operator, with a history of not paying his federal safety fines on time.
During a campaign stop in Fayette County, Justice expressed his disappointment in the outcome of the Blankenship trial, telling WOAY-TV that he was sorry the former Massey executive was only able to be sentenced on a misdemeanor charge.
"I think we spent an ungodly amount of money within our state to probably keep Booth Goodwin in the limelight and end up with a misdemeanor charge," Justice was reported to have said. "If that's all we are going to end up with, why did we spend that much money to do that," Justice said.
Later, Justice campaign spokesman Grant Herring tried to clarify, saying that Justice believes the case against Blankenship should have been brought but alleging that "millions of our federal tax dollars were used on this case, and the best Goodwin could get was a misdemeanor."
"The bottom line: Taxpayer money was used to promote Goodwin's political career," Herring said in an email. "He was making a point that it should have been prosecuted better, and the families deserve better."
Goodwin, in an interview, responded that the Justice campaign's criticism shows that he is gaining ground in the Democratic race and that Justice is "running scared."
"We presented a very strong case that convinced a jury that Blankenship conspired to willfully violate mine safety laws," Goodwin said. "That was the most serious count with which he was charged. It is not our fault that violating laws designed to protect workers is punished less harshly than violations of laws designed to protect Wall Street."
While families of the miners who died at Upper Big Branch were disappointed with Blakenship's potential sentence, most made it clear that they blamed that on Congress, which has not acted on a long-pending bill that would make willful violations of mine safety standards that put miners at risk of death or serious injury felonies punishable with up to five years in prison and a $1 million fine.
"Booth Goodwin charged him with what the evidence showed," said Patty Quarles, whose son, Gary Wayne Quarles, died in the Upper Big Branch explosion. "As far as the money, well, I feel, as a mom and dad of a dead coal miner, he paid his taxes and so do we. Had it been your family, I promise, you would be glad to hear he's going to jail, no matter that is a year. It's not Booth's fault that the laws have never been updated."
In December, a federal jury convicted Blankenship of conspiring to violate mine safety standards at Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine, where, in April 2010, a huge explosion killed 29 workers.
The jury acquitted Blankenship of making a false statement and securities fraud, felonies that would have carried a total sentence of 25 years in prison.
Jurors also opted not to tie Blankenship's conspiracy conviction to an effort to thwart federal Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors, a move that would have exposed him to up to five years in prison, rather than the maximum one year for a mine safety violation conspiracy.
When she sentenced Blankenship to the maximum of one year and a $250,000 fine, U.S. District Judge Irene Berger observed that there had been a lot of discussion "about the acquittal of felony offenses and your conviction of a misdemeanor. Those of us in the legal community put tags on offenses. Congress puts tags on offenses.
"But when we seek to sentence, we sentence based on the conduct, which I find to be very serious, not only in its commission, but its potential impact in terms of risk, in this particular case," Berger said.
Justice's allegation that the Blankenship prosecution amounted to little more than an effort to promote Goodwin's political career somewhat echoed the position taken by Blankenship's defense lawyers, both in pre-trial efforts to have the case dismissed and during the sentencing hearing last week in U.S. District Court, in Charleston.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby, lead prosecutor in the Blankenship case, would not comment on how much the office spent on its more than five-year investigation and prosecution following the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in a generation.
Part of the investigation, though, resulted in Alpha Natural Resources paying the government more than $30 million in fines that were pending for Massey safety violations.
Goodwin said Justice was criticizing him for "taking down his criminal buddies," noting reports, originally published by the Courier-Journal, in Louisville, that Blankenship was Justice's guest at a Kentucky Derby event in 2012. Herring said Justice "is not friends with Don Blankenship," and that the Kentucky Derby story is not accurate.
"There was a coal industry reception that Jim was invited to," Herring said, "and Blankenship happened to be there."
Justice's comments about the Blankenship case come just after his gubernatorial campaign unveiled a new ad featuring United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts, whose union has endorsed Justice over Goodwin and Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler in the Democratic primary scheduled for May 10.
"We stand with Jim Justice," Roberts says in the ad. "Jim is one of the good coal operators. He pays a good wage and his safety record is excellent."
In November 2014, a report by National Public Radio and Mine Safety and Health News revealed that, at the time, Justice - a billionaire - owed MSHA nearly $2 million in overdue fines for safety and health violations. Citing federal data, the news report also said that, while Justice mines overall - counting those with and without delinquent fines - had a better injury rate than the national average, Justice mines with delinquent fines had an injury rate over the previous five years that was more than twice the national average.
When Blankenship was convicted last December, Roberts issued a news release that praised the outcome of the trial.
"A message has gone out today to every coal operator in America who is willing to skirt mine safety and health laws: You do so at your own personal risk," Roberts said at the time.
Asked Tuesday if the union agrees with Justice's comments about Goodwin and the prosecution of Blankenship, UMW spokesman Phil Smith said, "President Roberts made his own comments on the Blankenship conviction and sentence. We will limit our comments to that statement. Mr. Justice is free to make his own comments."
The union also would not provide any details about what data or evidence it used to determine that Justice's mines have an "excellent" safety record.
Kessler said Tuesday that Justice's criticism of the Blankenship prosecution is unfair, calling the conviction and sentencing of a coal CEO "monumental."
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kward@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1702 or follow @kenwardjr on Twitter.