Court Considering UBB Chief's Conviction

{Richmond, Virginia}...During a 20 minute hearing Friday, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals focused on former Upper Big Branch mine security chief Hughie Elbert Stover's claim that there was no evidence he knowingly lied to investigators after the 2010 explosion when he told them that miners were not alerted whenever inspectors arrived. Stover's attorney, William Wilmoth, told the judges that when Stover became security chief at the former Massey Energy mine near Montcoal, he put a stop to the practice of guards telephoning miners to alert them that inspectors were on the premises. Instead, he said, guards announced every visitor's arrival on two internal radio channels, a practice that company attorneys had assured Stover was legal. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Blaire Malkin said Stover flatly told investigators several times that "we do not notify" when an inspector arrives. She said it was clear Stover knew this was untrue, and it was up to the jury to decide whether he deliberately lied. Stover was convicted last year of illegally ordering a subordinate to destroy documents relevant to the investigation, but the Court of Appeals did not even get to that issue.