CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Federal criminal charges against suspended West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry, what U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart was calling a “weighty” indictment, are prompting new calls for Loughry to resign immediately.
“It’s a miserably sad day, West Virginia Day no less, because there’s so much damage to the Court that he’s caused,” said Steve Canterbury, former state Supreme Court administrator, on Wednesday’s “580-LIVE with Charleston Mayor Danny Jones.”
“Removing myself from the equation, it just saddens me. It’s just such a bad day for the state, having a state official let us down — one with promise and one who made promises.”
On Wednesday morning, Loughry, 47, was arrested at his Kanawha County home after being named in a 22-count indictment from a federal grand jury.
In all, he was indicted on 16 counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, three counts of making false statements and one count of witness tampering.
“Count 22 is the most serious,” Harvey Peyton, a Nitro attorney, said of the witness tampering charge. “Count 22 of the indictment alleges an attempt by the accused to obstruct justice.”
According to the indictment, Loughry allegedly trying to “coach a Supreme Court employee by planting false facts about a purported prior conversation between the employee and defendant.”
Some the charges, though, Peyton argued on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline,” are much more serious than others.
“It’s a big splash to say ‘We’ve got this 22 count indictment of deep-seated corruption’ when what we’re talking about here, look, Counts 2 and 3 are mail fraud, false and fraudulent mileage claims.”
State Senator Mike Woelfel (D-Cabell, 05) said, when a state
Supreme Court justice is involved, no charges are minor in his view.
He called the charges pending against Loughry “outrageous.”
“The Supreme Court of Appeals is the backstop for our whole state government. In other words, that is the place, they’re the final arbiter and if those folks are corrupt, or one of them would be corrupt, it undermines the whole system,” Woelfel said.
He attended Wednesday’s press conference from U.S. Attorney Stuart.
Woelfel’s takeaway was this:
“If you’re going to be a justice of the Supreme Court, don’t engage in criminal activity. It’s that simple. You should be as pure as Caesar’s wife when it comes to corruption.”
Loughry made an initial court appearance on Wednesday morning and left the U.S. Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse in Charleston without making any public comments.
If convicted of all counts, Loughry faces a possible prison sentence of more than 300 years.
“This case needs to be decided in the proper forums, not in the court of public opinion,” said Dean Rohrig, an attorney and president of the West Virginia State Bar.
He noted, “What’s occurred today (Wednesday) is an indictment of Justice Loughry, not the system. I think that the prior JIC charges, the suspension of the justice without pay and now the indictment shows that the system is, in fact, working.”
Earlier this month, Loughry was suspended without pay after the Judicial Investigation Commission named him in a 32-count judicial complaint alleging violations of the Judicial Code of Conduct.
The Judicial Investigation Commission concluded Loughry “engaged in a pattern and practice of lying and using his public office for private gain.”
“This seemed inexorable, this march to indictment in the last several months,” said Canterbury of the criminal indictments that came out of the federal investigation. “It just seemed like that they were learning (about) and getting to know the guy that I know.”
After 11 years on the job, Canterbury was abruptly fired in January 2017 with a 3-2 vote soon after Loughry took over as chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court.
Former Nicholas County Circuit Judge Gary Johnson replaced Canterbury. Johnson’s resignation takes effect on June 30.
Before being elected in 2012, Loughry wrote a book about political corruption, “Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia.”
“I don’t know what Justice Loughry is thinking right now. I’m sure it’s a sad and lonely day for him,” Canterbury said.
“I hope that he’s able to look beyond whatever bubble he’s created and see what’s good for the state and what’s good for the state is to move on.”