10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

Justice Loughry takes the stand, refuting testimony by earlier witnesses

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry took the stand in his own defense all Monday afternoon, denying many of the allegations made by earlier witnesses.

Suspended Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry

Loughry testified that, in his mind, he did not ever use a state vehicle for personal gain. He acknowledged a big, old desk was at his house — but he said it was sent there by other Supreme Court employees and denied ever knowing the desk had any historic significance.

He said he never tried to intimidate a Supreme Court employee who wound up being a witness, instead contending that they just remembered a conversation about office renovations differently.

U.S. Prosecutor Philip Wright began to cross-examining Loughry, asking point by point how his interpretations could be so different from the many other witnesses over the first four days of the trial. U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver, shortly after 5 p.m., proposed stopping for the day.

So when Loughry’s trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, he will still be on the stand. Steve Canterbury, the former Supreme Court administrator fired by Loughry, was on deck as a rebuttal witness.

Justice Brent Benjamin

Loughry’s testimony on Monday afternoon went so far as to contradict a former justice, Brent Benjamin, who last week testified under oath about a conversation with Loughry about the antique desk.

“Wow, you got a Cass Gilbert desk,” Benjamin recalled commenting to Loughry when he was still serving as a law clerk.

As Benjamin remembered it, Loughry responded, “Yes, I’m very fortunate to have this. It’s very historical.”

While being cross-examined by Wright on Monday, Loughry testified, “That would be false.”

Loughry went on to say, “He’s either flat out lying or he’s misremembering the circumstance.”

Two of the 22 charges against Loughry have to do with taking home the “Cass Gilbert” desk and instructing Supreme Court spokeswoman Jennifer Bundy to falsely claim the Supreme Court has a longstanding policy of allowing justices to keep home offices.

Loughry held to the claim that home offices are allowed, refuting several witnesses from over the past few days. He added that he did not have the desk sent to his home but that other Supreme Court employees had it sent there.

Loughry took the position that he did not know the desk was particularly historic, and he questioned whether there is actually any direct relation between the old desk and Cass Gilbert, the architect who designed the state Capitol.

“Did anyone tell you anything about that desk?” asked Loughry’s attorney, John Carr.

“No,” Loughry responded.

He added, “There was nothing fancy about this desk. They are old desks. The doors stick.”

Loughry later testified, “This is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard in my life. All of a sudden this desk has become folklore. It’s an old desk.”

Jurors heard a clip of Loughry’s responses to investigators and to his own attorney about his knowledge of the antique desk and its whereabouts.

Loughry also testified about a couch formerly owned by Justice Joseph Albright that wound up in his Charleston home. Loughry said he would lie down on the couch to read Supreme Court materials at night, helping with his neck pain.

Jurors heard another clip of Loughry discussing his view of the couch while being questioned by federal investigators and his own lawyer.

Loughry’s testimony also refuted statements by Supreme Court employee Kim Ellis, who testified Friday that she felt intimidated when she was summoned into a meeting with five court officials including Loughry.

Ellis recorded the meeting, including Loughry asking her if she remembered his requests to be sure his office renovation would come at a lower price than office renovations for justices Menis Ketchum or Margaret Workman.

“Were you trying to intimidate her?” Carr asked.

“Absolutely not,” Loughry responded.

One of the counts against Loughry is a witness tampering charge, relating to Ellis.

Most of the charges against Loughry allege that he used a state vehicle and a state-issued gasoline card for personal travel.

Loughry acknowledged using state vehicles but denied they were for personal travel. He testified that he would consider personal travel to be along the lines of going to concerts or golf outings. Instead, he said his trips were for public outreach.

“Do you consider that you’ve done anything wrong as it relates to state vehicles?” asked his attorney, Carr.

“No,” Loughry responded.

Many of his trips in state-owned Buicks led him to Tucker County, where he grew up. He described going to Canaan Valley, which is in Tucker County, for conferences. He described other instances of meeting with students or local magistrates.

“Why go there,” Carr asked.

“I knew those people,” Loughry said.

The justice said he stayed at his parents’ home. To his mind, he testified, he was saving the state money.

“The irony is, if I had driven my own vehicle and turned in mileage and spent $150 on a hotel and accepted a per diem for meals, we probably wouldn’t be here,” he told Carr from the witness stand.

Earlier Monday, two witnesses described Loughry’s use of state vehicles, but from very different points of view.

Deborah Rada, who said she lives across the street from Loughry on Charleston’s Scenic Drive, testified that Loughry would regularly bring home marked state vehicles.

“It was on a regular basis,” Rada said. “I would see them a lot on weekends and holidays.”

Rada, who said she is often out working in her flower bed or walking her dog, noticed other details about Loughry’s use of the vehicles.

“Over the holidays, it wasn’t unusual to see he and his wife putting their luggage in the car,” she said, adding that sometimes she saw wrapped Christmas gifts being placed in the state vehicle.

Another witness, Kevin Horan of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a much more technical approach.

Horan works for the bureau’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team, which analyzes data from when calls or text messages pass through cell towers. He said those hits allow analysts to determine when the cell phone user was in a general area.

“What it’s telling me is who you’re calling, how often you’re calling, the length of your calls, where you are,” Horan said. “There’s a lot of good information we can learn from these records.”

In Loughry’s case, Horan testified date by date about some locations indicating where calls and texts were placed from the justice’s phone. One location frequently mentioned was Parsons, Loughry’s hometown in Tucker County.

More testimony about data came from Jim Powers, an investigator from the Legislature’s Commission on Special Investigations.

Before Powers began his Monday testimony, U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver suggested that lawyers, jurors and others in the courtroom get up to stretch.

Federal prosecutors had already warned jurors that the nature of some testimony was inescapably detailed.

Powers testified about a spreadsheet he had constructed, using entries from Loughry’s work calendar, the court vehicle reservation log system, EZ Pass transponder data, fuel card invoices and charges from Loughry’s personal credit card.

By constructing the spreadsheet, Powers testified that he was able to get a better idea of the dates and circumstances of Loughry’s travel.

One more Monday morning witness testified that Loughry himself set the wheels in motion for a federal investigation.

Carol Casto, who retired early this year from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, testified that when she led the office for a year on an interim basis Loughry called her with misgivings about Supreme Court spending.

Casto said she took Loughry’s call immediately and handed her notes over to the agency’s criminal investigations chief.

“He had concerns about the abuse of power at the court and what he regarded as improper spending,” Casto testified.

She added, “His primary concerns were about what he characterized as excess spending on the remodeling projects.”

Earlier in the trial, an FBI agent testified that he began to look into Loughry’s claims but the evidence — particularly relating to use of state vehicles — soon led to Loughry himself.





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