Former Massey Energy CEO Blankenship again urges Supreme Court to hear appeal of his conviction

Attorneys for Don Blankenship made their last pitch this week to the U.S. Supreme Court, telling justices they should hear the former Massey Energy CEO’s criminal appeal so that other corporate executives aren’t subject to similar prosecutions for workplace safety violations.

Blankenship’s legal team on Thursday filed a reply to an earlier legal brief in which the Trump administration’s Department of Justice defended the conviction of Blankenship and urged the court not to hear his appeal.

The 17-page filing from Blankenship’s lawyers argues that lower court rulings in the case “threaten to dramatically expand federal criminal liability in a wide range of contexts,” including instances where corporate executives “should have known that an act or omission would lead to safety violations,” regardless of whether that executive “wanted violations to occur or continue.”

Bill Taylor, Blankenship’s lead defense lawyer, wrote in the new court filing that because a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Blankenship “could be applied in future cases — especially in prosecutions of corporate officials,” the justices should “summarily reverse,” Blankenship’s conviction, which would mean throwing it out without oral argument before the court.

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