A man who lost three loved ones in the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia reacted emotionally on Wednesday after a judge sentence former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship to 12 months in prison.
Although U.S. District Judge Irene Berger did not allow the families of victims to make impact statements in court on Wednesday, several family members told reporters outside the courtroom that Blankenship deserved more than a year in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiring to violate mine safety standards.
Tommy Davis lost his son, his brother and his nephew in the mine tragedy. He choked up as he told reporters that the law was far too lenient.
"This man has no remorse at all!" Davis explained. "He never approached none of us [after the mine disaster], he never told us he was sorry for what happened, and he knows he could have done the right thing."
"I miss my family," he continued. "He hugged his [after the verdict]. And all he gets is a year. [U.S. District Judge Irene Berger] done great, she give him what she can give him, but there needs to be stricter more harsh penalty for people who put greed and money over human life."
Davis added: "If he was where I was that day, and he seen my son after laying in there for five days and seen what he looked like, if you worked on them men like we did when they come outside, you smelled them and you looked at them, then you know where I come from."
Watch the video below from WCHS, broadcast April 7, 2016.
EMOTIONAL REACTION: Tommy Davis lost three loved ones in the UBB mine disaster and was very emotional outside the federal courthouse in Charleston after Don Blankenship was sentenced to one year in prison Wednesday.See more here --> http://bit.ly/1REhSMs
Posted by WCHS & WVAH TV on Wednesday, April 6, 2016
