We've mentioned before the case of Don Blankenship, the former head of Massey Energy whom a jury convicted of conspiracy to violate federal mine safety standards in connection with the Upper Big Branch disaster that killed 29 workers.
Today a federal judge sentenced Blankenship to one year in prison. It's not as much as you might expect given the harm he caused, but it was the maximum available given the charge on which he was convicted. "However limited the Justice Department’s success was in the Blankenship case," the New York Times explains, "the verdict was a landmark" because of how rarely corporate officers are held accountable for crimes related to workplace safety.
