IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA
AT CHARLESTON
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
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vs.
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DONALD L. BLANKENSHIP,
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Defendant.
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CRIMINAL ACTION
NO. 5:14-CR-00244
April 6, 2016

SENTENCING HEARING
BEFORE THE HONORABLE IRENE C. BERGER
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
APPEARANCES:
For the United States:

MR. STEVEN R. RUBY
MS. GABRIELE WOHL
U.S. Attorney's Office
P.O. Box 1713
Charleston, WV 25326-1713
MR. R. GREGORY MCVEY
U.S. Attorney's Office
P.O. Box 1239
Huntington, WV 25714-1239

 APPEARANCES (Continued):

For the Defendant:

MR. WILLIAM W. TAYLOR, III
MR. BLAIR GERARD BROWN
MR. ERIC R. DELINSKY
Zuckerman Spaeder
Suite 1000
1800 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-5807
MR. JAMES A. WALLS
Spilman Thomas & Battle
P.O. Box 273
Charleston, WV 25321-0273

Court Reporter:

Lisa A. Cook, RPR-RMR-CRR-FCRR
(304)347-3198
lisa_cook@wvsd.uscourts.gov

Proceedings recorded by mechanical stenography; transcript
produced by computer.

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P R O C E E D I N G S

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* * * * *

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THE COURT:

Mr. Blankenship, is there anything

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that you would like to state prior to the Court imposing

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sentence?

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THE DEFENDANT:

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THE COURT:

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THE DEFENDANT:

Yes, ma'am.

All right.
As with Mr. Taylor, I came to

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speak quite a bit longer including about the cause of the

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explosion, but under the circumstances I'm going to make

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this very brief.

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My main point is wanting to express sorrow to the

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families and everyone for what happened.

I hope that

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somehow what I will have to say here briefly will help them

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a little bit in finding peace.

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thank you's as well.

I'd like to express a lot of

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Let me say that as I begin, obviously it's been a

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difficult and trying time for me to go through this, no pun

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in the word "trying."

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But as to the thank you's, there's so many people, I

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don't really know where to begin.

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friends who have helped me throughout this ordeal which has

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now stretched into 18 months I guess.

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But I want to thank the

I would like to give a special thanks to those who
wrote the letters.

They are an inspiration and a strength

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to me.
I also want to note the hundreds of good people in West

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Virginia.

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indictment period and wished me well.

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stopped their cars and blew their horns and said to hang in

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there and so forth.

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Hundreds of people came up to me during the
Some of them even

So it was very encouraging.

I would also like to thank the jurors who invested a

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lot of time, a lot of their personal time, as you noted,

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during the trial in hearing the case.

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In acknowledging, I thank the jury for having the

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courage to find me not guilty as to the felonies despite all

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the pressure that the families being here and what they were

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reading, likely reading in the media and so forth was

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causing them perhaps to be hesitant to find me innocent on

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those felonies, but they found the courage to do that.

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I'd also like to thank the U.S. Marshals and everybody

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for being protective during the trial and for treating me in

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a courteous manner, as well as Joe Black, the probation

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officer, who was extremely courteous in visiting my house

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and searching it here in West Virginia.

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I never thought, by the way, that I would be thanking a
probation officer because I never expected to have one.

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I'd also like to thank Jeff Gwinn for his

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professionalism when we had the pre-sentence hearing

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meetings and so forth.

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And I'd like to thank the families for being courteous

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here at the courtroom.

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for them.

I know it's been a difficult time

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And something I never do, I'd like to thank the

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attorneys for all their hard work and bringing all their

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advocacy and intelligence to preventing a worse result here

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than might have occurred.

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And I'd like to thank you for conducting an orderly
courtroom.

In fact, you did so just a few minutes ago.

And

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I believe that you know there was no direct evidence that I

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committed a crime.

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sure that I did not.

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knows that I am not guilty of a crime.

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In any event, you can be 100 percent
It's important to me that everyone

And just briefly to the families, just a few words.

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First, as I said earlier, I'm deeply sorry for what

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happened.

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miners were great coal miners.

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perished had 400 years of mining experience.

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But I want to tell you that the loss of coal
Collectively the 29 men who

The families already know that they were great coal

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miners.

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that they did not conspire with me or anyone else to commit

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violations of law.

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They know that their loved ones are good men and

THE COURT:

Let me stop you.

Let me stop you

there for a moment.
Counsel, I will hear you all on this issue, but I have

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prevented people who lost family members from addressing the

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UBB mine explosion.

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to hear it from one side and not the other.

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any comments you want to make about that, I will hear you.

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But that does not seem to be appropriate to me, and

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particularly given that the cause of that explosion is not

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at issue here.

I do not think it's appropriate for me

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THE DEFENDANT:

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THE COURT:

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MR. TAYLOR:

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THE COURT:

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MR. TAYLOR:

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Okay.

Mr. Taylor.
I think Mr. Blankenship -I'm sorry?
I think Mr. Blankenship will adapt

his remarks.

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THE DEFENDANT:

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THE COURT:

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If you all have

Yeah.

Anything from the Government on that

issue?
MR. RUBY:

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Your Honor, we agree with the Court.

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The Court's kept that out and it's prevented, has denied our

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motion to allow them to speak.

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some latitude for a defendant to allocute, but I don't think

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that latitude carries over into the territory that the

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defendant's in now.
THE COURT:

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And I recognize that there's

Mr. Blankenship, you understand my

ruling?
THE DEFENDANT:

I think so.

I was trying to avoid

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anything that touched on that.

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just, I just want to make the point that these men were

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proud coal miners.

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And they'd want the truth of what happened there to be

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known.
MR. RUBY:

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THE DEFENDANT:

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THE COURT:

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They've been doing it for a long time.

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But if I did, I'm sorry.

Your Honor, enough.
I'm sorry, Judge.

I'm going to -- if it isn't clear, I

want to preclude discussion regarding the explosion here and
its cause, Mr. Blankenship.
THE DEFENDANT:

Okay.

Well, I think that's about

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all I had to say other than thank you for the opportunity to

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say what I did, and just reassure the families that their

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loved ones were great guys, great coal miners.

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THE COURT:

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THE DEFENDANT:

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All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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I, Lisa A. Cook, Official Reporter of the United

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States District Court for the Southern District of West

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Virginia, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and

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correct transcript, to the best of my ability, from the

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record of proceedings in the above-entitled matter.

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s\Lisa A. Cook
Reporter

April 6, 2016
Date