CLARKSBURG, W. Va. –– According his legal representation, Sam “Zeke” Lopez will soon be reinstated as a full member of Clarksburg City Council.
“We’ve agreed with the defendants to release a joint statement, but the action has been resolved,” Greg Shillace said.
Lopez filed suit against fellow city council members after they voted to remove him from office in February after a conviction on domestic assault in January, on grounds that he committed a crime of moral turpitude.
He claimed the members of council did not have the authority to remove him from his elected position, according to state code, or to determine a definition of what qualifies as moral turpitude.
Mayor Catherine Goings, along with council Members Patsy Trecost and Jim Malfregeot were removed after cooperative testimony satisfied Shillace. This left Gary Bowden, Robert Caplan and Margaret Bailey as the remaining defendants.
The case was scheduled to be heard by Harrison County Circuit Judge James Matish Friday morning, until the agreement was reached.
“This would settle any and all matters arising out of the claims that my client wasn’t allowed to remain in office,” Shillace said.
When the suit was filed, a preliminary injunction was filed along with it, which eventually allowed Lopez to remain on council, but as a non-voting member.
Though Shillace expects Lopez to be restored to full voting status soon, he was not sure if that would be accomplished by council’s meeting Thursday night.
“That will be part of the order dismissing the case,” he said. “The court will enter an order that vacates that injunction. So, yeah, he’ll be back to an unconstrained member of the Clarksburg City Council.”
This all comes after a three-judge panel appointed by the state Supreme Court issued a ruling on a petition filed by Bowden, Caplan and Bailey to have Lopez removed from his position.
At a hearing in October, the petitioners argued he abused his position by having others cover up a domestic assault in April 2013 until after he was reelected in June of the same year, before surrendering himself in July. The respondents argued there has never been evidence to support these claims, merely conjecture and that prior rulings of the Supreme Court dictate the petition was filed too late.
In the 20-plus page decision Tuesday, the tribunal agreed with Lopez, writing “Based upon the evidence presented, the three-judge court determines that Respondent Lopez cannot be removed from his duly elected office.”
Shillace lauded the work of the panel.
“They spent the time to consider the evidence that was presented, in our view the lack of any evidence that was presented, and made what I believe to be the right decision.”