CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Convicted Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry is asking for his upcoming impeachment trial to be blocked.
Loughry has filed a motion to have his impeachment trial halted for the same reasons successfully argued by Chief Justice Margaret Workman.
Last week, a jury found Loughry guilty on 11 federal counts and not guilty on 10. The jury could not decide on one remaining count.
But Loughry, who has already been suspended from the Supreme Court, is now says that if Workman’s impeachment trial has been stopped then his should be too.
“Justice Allen H. Loughry II was impeached following the same procedures and on many of the grounds returned against Justice Workman,” according to the motion filed Friday by attorney John Carr.
“Justice Allen H. Loughry II respectfully moves the court to expand the writ issued in the Workman decision to prohibit the impeachment of Justice Loughry.”
Loughry’s trial had been set for 9 a.m. Nov. 12.
Loughry Motion to Be Included With Workman (Text)
The federal charges against Loughry, the author of “Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia,” accused him of mail fraud, wire fraud, tampering with a witness and lying to federal agents.
Loughry was impeached on articles alleging a long list of misdeeds.
Allegations included overspending on office renovations, taking home an antique desk belonging to the state, using state vehicles for personal travel, using state computer equipment for personal tasks, lying to the House Finance Committee and circumventing state law to pay senior status circuit judges more than they were entitled to be paid during fill-in stints.
Last week, retired Supreme Court Justice Robin Davis also filed a motion to officially be considered part of Workman’s case that halted her impeachment in the state Senate.
There has been no ruling yet on whether Davis’s motion has been successful, but as a practical matter it has worked so far.
The presiding judge of the impeachment trials issued an order that Davis’s impeachment trial will be put off indefinitely.
“It is hereby ORDERED that the trial of Respondent Davis is continued generally,” wrote Paul Farrell, the presiding judge of the impeachment trials in the Senate.
An acting Supreme Court two weeks ago blocked Workman’s impeachment trial on constitutional and procedural grounds.
An aspect of the ruling suggested the House of Delegates had not gone through proper procedures for the impeachment process by not including findings of fact in the articles and failing to pass a full resolution adopting the articles.
A separate opinion by acting justices Duke Bloom and Jacob Reger suggested the acting Supreme Court should not even have weighed in on those matters.
“It is clear that when the majority opinion resolved the substantive issues in Article IV, Article VI and Article XIV, the petitioner had obtained the relief she sought,” the two judges wrote. “Thus, there was no need to address the remaining issues raised.”
Bloom and Reger suggested that aspect of the broader ruling could also halt the impeachment trials for justices Davis and Allen Loughry, who was found guilty last week of 11 federal counts.
“More importantly, the advisory opinion on the two issues has a lethal consequence — it has invalidated the impeachment trials of the two remaining judicial officers,” Bloom and Reger wrote.
Democrats in the House of Delegates issued a statement this week saying Loughry should have been the focus of impeachment all along.
“I am disappointed that Republican legislative leaders did not prioritize the impeachment of Justice Allen Loughry earlier this year during the legislative session and have now caused the entire impeachment process to be turned into chaos,” stated House Minority Leader Tim Miley, D-Harrison.
Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, noted that he pushed for the Legislature to focus on Loughry’s impeachment during the regular session in February.
“Now, unless the Governor calls the House back in to session for yet another special session, we will not be able to fix this and the impeachment charges against former Justice Allen Loughry, who just last week was convicted on federal charges, could be null and void,” Pushkin stated.