Goodwin Files Response To Stover Appeal

{Richmond, Virginia}...U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin filed his response to Hughie Elbert Stover's appeal Thursday in the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. Goodwin says there's no merit to claims that Judge Irene Berger erred in refusing to throw out Stover's interview with investigators or in refusing to dismiss the charges and acquit him. Stover was convicted last fall of lying to investigators and ordering a subordinate to destroy documents following the April 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine. Stover was sentenced to three years behind bars, one of the stiffest punishments ever handed down in a mine safety case, but he has been free pending appeal. His case is tentatively scheduled for oral argument in late September.