(Bloomberg) -- Former coal baron Donald Blankenship was sentenced to a year in prison for evading mine-safety rules in one of the final chapters of a fatal mine explosion that was the worst U.S. coal industry accident in almost 40 years.
U.S. District Judge Irene Berger in Charleston, West Virginia, also fined the ex-Massey Energy chief executive officer $250,000 and denied his request to remain free during appeal. Berger ordered Blankenship to report to prison as soon as the Federal Bureau of Prisons orders him to.
Families of some of the 29 miners killed in the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine blast watched from the courtroom gallery on Wednesday as prosecutors urged the judge to send a message to the coal industry by jailing Blankenship.
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