CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Impeachment hearings at the House of Delegates continue later this week with a witness list that’s likely to include former Supreme Court Administrator Steve Canterbury, who is at the center of many of the controversies involving Justice Allen Loughry.
Delegates may also hear from Loughry’s wife Kelly about state furnishings that moved in and out of their private home, including computer equipment that wound up being used for family photos and video games.
“There was a request by one of our managers to subpoena Mrs. Loughry for certain factual issues,” said House Judiciary Chairman John Shott, who is leading the hearings. “We will issue that subpoena.”
And a tour of the court, delayed until clearance is given for media to observe, may wind up later this week.
All in all, it could be a busy week, as the House Judiciary Committee continues to consider whether to impeach Loughry or any additional members of the court. The proceedings are scheduled to start again Thursday.
Canterbury’s testimony is expected to take all day Thursday and perhaps part of the next day. He was at odds with Loughry, with the justice blaming Canterbury for decisions that led to controversial spending by the court.
At one point, Loughry said he took his concerns to federal investigators. It was Loughry who wound up facing a 23-count federal indictment.
“He is in the middle of everything, all the testimony, so that could very well consume a day,” Shott said..
Shott said the committee is also trying to pinpoint documents detailing construction costs for renovations of offices at the Supreme Court to enter into evidence. “We’ll have to analyze that and see if we want to bring in witnesses regarding that,” Shott said.
Scheduling has been a challenge, as some witnesses have been represented by counsel. “There’s been a lot of proceedings, so it could be that they’re a little concerned about being caught in some inconsistency inadvertently and getting themselves in a bind. So they may feel like they need counsel just to protect ’em.”
Canterbury has been mentioned many times during testimony to this point. He was fired in early January, 2017 — right after Loughry became chief justice.
Deputy Director Jess Gundy testified last week that he escorted Canterbury out of the court the day he was fired.
Gundy recalled Canterbury saying, “I don’t know whether I just want to ride off into the sunset or whether I’m going to contact the press and tell them everything.”
Former court spokeswoman Jennifer Bundy was asked last week on the witness stand if court employees had any contact with Justice Loughry about Canterbury’s firing as court administrator.
Bundy said she told Loughry, “I consider Steve a personal friend, and I intend to continue to talk to him.”
“He just said ‘OK,’” Bundy said of Loughry.
“Over time, he would say ‘I know Steve is your friend, but how can you continue to be friends with someone who says this or that?’”
Bundy said her Christian outlook and attitude toward forgiveness helped her to accept both Canterbury and Loughry.
But, as the controversy continued, Bundy said, “I became concerned about my job.”
Another court employee, via affidavit, also said she came to fear for her job. The affidavit was read aloud during Friday morning’s hearing.
Kimberly Ellis, the Supreme Court’s director of administrative services, had previously worked with Silling Associates.
She was still working there when she met with Justice Loughry for the first time to discuss renovations to his office.
She came to work at the court in May, 2013. Construction on the office began the next month.
“Justice Loughry was very involved in the decisions regarding the renovations to and furnishing of his office,” Ellis testified via affidavit.
“The construction costs associated with the renovations to Justice Loughry’s office were discussed with Justice Loughry and a detailed cost estimate was provided to Justice Loughry by the Contractor before construction began.”
The plans included Loughry’s hand sketches of a flood design to include a West Virginia map with Tucker County highlighted. “Justice Loughry was updated throughout the project,” Ellis testified. “I do not recall any surprises regarding the map.”
The evening following Canterbury’s firing, Ellis testified via affidavit, she received a call on her cell phone from Justice Loughry, who asked to keep the conversation off the record.
“He informed me that he had fired Steve Canterbury,” Ellis said. “He also said it was his understanding that I was a spy or loyal to Steve Canterbury, but I had nothing to worry about because they liked me. I felt like this was a threat and feared for my employment with the Court.”
She said a similar event happened to her former assistant Tamerra Gilmore. While Ellis was out of the office on court business, Ellis said, Loughry asked Gilmore to come into his office and shut the door “and then told Tamerra that he believed that she and I were spies for Steve Canterbury.” Gilmore soon found another job.
On Oct. 18, 2017, Ellis was asked for files on the renovations to the offices of Justice Loughry and Justice Robin Davis.
The day after that, she was summoned immediately to the office of then-administrator Gary Johnson, a former Nicholas Circuit judge.
“When I arrived at Judge Johnson’s office, Justice Loughry was sitting at a table with administrative counsel sitting on both sides of him,” Ellis testified via the affidavit.
Loughry began questioning her about the costs of the office renovation project.
“Justice Loughry asked me if I recalled a meeting with him where I had written down on a piece of paper the ost for Justice Ketchum and Justice Workman’s office, and I said that I did not,” Ellis said.
“During this same meeting, Justice Loughry said he had specifically told me over and over again that regardless of what is spent on his office, it was not to cost more than Justice Ketchum’s or Justice Workman’s office, and he asked me if I recalled that conversation, and I said no. I felt like he was trying to intimidate me and coerce me to lie.”
After that, Ellis said, her office was relocated from one down the hall from the court’s main administrative office to a new workspace located between the offices of the court’s two administrative counsel who had flanked Loughry.
