By Lacie Pierson

January 19, 2018 - The second of two men convicted of killing a longtime coal executive was sentenced to life in prison with mercy Thursday morning.

Brandon Lee Fitzpatrick will be eligible to be considered for parole in 15 years, per the mercy provision in his sentence handed down by Mingo Circuit Judge Miki Thompson.

Fitzpatrick, 20, of Louisa, Kentucky, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after a near mistrial at the end of a four-day trial in November.

Fitzpatrick and Anthony Raheem Arriaga, 22, were convicted of killing Bennett “Ben” Hatfield, 58, as he cleaned the graves of his wife and her parents in Mountain View Memory Gardens in Mingo County on May 22, 2016.

Mingo County Prosecuting Attorney Duke Jewell said Fitzpatrick came up with the scheme to kill Hatfield and steal his GMC Yukon Denali, and Arriaga was the one who shot Hatfield but failed to steal his car in a panic after killing him.

Ben Hatfield’s brother, Dennis Hatfield, found his body on the bank of the Tug Fork River the morning of May 23, 2016, after Ben Hatfield’s girlfriend reported him missing when he didn’t return home from the cemetery the day before.

A medical examiner with the West Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office said Ben Hatfield died of a single gunshot wound that entered his back and exited through his chest.

A native of Mingo County, Ben Hatfield was father to two daughters and a son. At the time of his death, Hatfield was operating his own mining consulting business, Coal Strategies LLC. Before that, he was CEO of Patriot Coal and International Coal Group and was an executive at Massey Energy.

A jury convicted Arriaga of first-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit robbery on Oct. 20, 2017. Thompson sentenced Arriaga to life in prison with mercy on Dec. 19.

Jewell said Thursday he hoped Fitzpatrick’s sentencing was the final resolution in Hatfield’s death.

“I just hope that it brings closure and some level of comfort to the victim’s family,” Jewell said. “It was a horrific thing that happened. No one should die the way Ben Hatfield died, and his family has to live with that for the rest of their lives.” 

'

Brandon Fitzpatrick