CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The sentencing date for former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Menis Ketchum is being moved, but there’s a disagreement over when it might wind up being.
U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver entered an order on Tuesday to move Ketchum’s sentencing to 1:30 p.m. Feb. 27. The original date had been Jan. 30. The judge didn’t specify a reason for the delay.
Ketchum’s lawyers then filed their own motion asking to change the new date.
They cited a conflict.
“The grounds for this motion are that counsel’s wife has scheduled surgery procedures at the Cleveland Clinic to begin on the morning of February 27, 2019,” they wrote.
“Further, the surgical date was not scheduled until last week and is the product of coordinating the schedules of two surgeons.”
Copenhaver had not yet filed a public response.
Ketchum pleaded guilty in August to one count of wire fraud.
The former justice admitted to using a state-owned vehicle and a state-issued gas card for personal use for golf trips to Virginia. He resigned from the Supreme Court in July, a day before impeachment proceedings were beginning.
Former Justice Allen Loughry also had his sentencing date delayed this week.
Loughry’s sentencing originally was set for this Wednesday. On Monday afternoon, Copenhaver submitted an order moving the sentencing to 1:30 p.m. February 13.
Copenhaver wrote that the date was changed to allow for presentence reports to be revised. That’s because Copenhaver issued a separate order late last week acquitting the former justice of a witness tampering charge.
Loughry still faces sentencing on 10 counts. A jury found him guilty in October of 11 of the 23 counts he originally faced.
Mail fraud counts charged Loughry with improperly seeking travel expense reimbursement for travel to a conference, even though he had used a state vehicle and a state-issued gasoline purchasing card.
The similar wire fraud counts charged Loughry with using a state vehicle and state-issued gasoline purchasing card for personal travel. Most of those trips were for signing events for Loughry’s book on political corruption in West Virginia.