CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former state Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday afternoon on 10 federal criminal counts following his conviction last fall.
U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver is scheduled to sentence the Tucker County native beginning at 1:30 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Charleston. Copenhaver recently rejected two motions for a new trial. The latest rejection coming last week.
Loughry was convicted last October on 11 criminal counts in connection with finances involving the state Supreme Court and Loughry’s personal use of state property.
The 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.
A federal jury found Loughry guilty of 11 of the original 23 counts he faced. Copenhaver acquitted Loughry of one of the counts, a witness tampering charge, in an order that came down after the trial.
U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart said since shortly after taking office that public corruption would not be tolerated. After Loughry’s conviction he said, “public corruption is a cancer that erodes public confidence and undermines the Rule of Law. This is not a sad day for West Virginia but, rather, a hopeful one. The system worked. Corruption was rooted out. Confidence is restored.”
Loughry will be sentenced according to federal sentencing guidelines.