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West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission Files New Complaint Against Allen Loughry

West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry emerges with his lawyer John Carr from the Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse after a federal jury was selected for his criminal trial on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018 in Charleston, W.Va. AP Photo

CHARLESTON — Now that state Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry has been convicted of multiple felonies in federal court, the state Judicial Investigation Commission is asking a judicial board to lift the stay on a complaint against the justice.

The JIC filed an amended complaint Monday, adding an additional charge to the 32-count complaint filed against Loughry in June.

The additional charge relates to Loughry’s conviction Oct. 12 in U.S. District Court of 11 counts, including wire fraud, false statements to federal officers and witness tampering. The JIC accused Loughry of violating the Judicial Code of Conduct and the Rules of Professional Conduct.

“The commission finds that there was probable cause to believe that Justice Loughry violated Rules 1.1 (Compliance With the Law), 1.2 (Confidence in the Judiciary), and 1.3 (Avoiding Abuse of the Prestige of Judicial Office) of the Code of Judicial Conduct…when he was convicted of eleven (11) felony counts in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia,” according to the filing.

In an additional filing, JIC counsel Teresa Tarr asked the Judicial Hearing Board to lift the stay placed on the Loughry case and expedite the formal proceedings before Loughry is sentenced in January.

The hearing board issued a stay in July 2 while Loughry awaited trial, but not before suspending him without pay.

“An expedited hearing is necessary because (Loughry) is set to be sentenced on January 16, 2019, and in the event he receives a term of confinement in a federal penitentiary, it will be impossible for him to appear for hearing at that time,” Tarr wrote.

The JIC has accused Loughry of lying about his involvement in his expensive office renovations at the court, using state property — including an antique desk, a couch dominated to the court, state computer equipment, court vehicles and fuel cards — hiding a federal subpoena from the other justices and using the court’s public information officer to spread disinformation.

Loughry, first elected in 2012 to a 12-year term to the high court and elected by the justices to a four-year term as chief justice in 2017, was removed as chief justice in February after the justices discovered the existence of the subpoena. He was suspended without pay June 6 by the Judicial Disciplinary Counsel. He has since been impeached by the House of Delegates and is awaiting trial Nov. 12 in the state Senate. Paul Farrell, the acting chief justice presiding over the impeachment trials, issued a ruling Oct. 15 continuing his trial and those of Justice Margaret Workman and former Justice Robin Davis indefinitely.

Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Joanna Tabit — currently a candidate for the Supreme Court seat vacated by Davis — was appointed by the court as acting chief justice to hear proceedings against Loughry. She appointed Raleigh County Circuit Judge Robert Burnside, Monongalia County Circuit Judge Russell Clawges Jr., Greenbrier County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dent and senior status Judge James Rowe to hear the case.

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