Elgine McArdle

FAIRMONT – A Wheeling attorney has been charged in Marion County with violating child confidentiality laws in connection with a murder case she was working on in the county, according to multiple published reports.

Elgine McArdle has been charged with 13 misdemeanor counts of violating confidentiality of recorded interviews of a child. She posted a $2,000 personal recognizance bond on Oct. 28.

McArdle is accused of violating that confidentiality during the murder trial of Ryan Lane, accused of being involved in the 2022 killing of Henry Silver. The trial ended in a hung jury and mistrial.

According to reports, Marion Circuit Court Judge David Janes entered a protective order in that case on Nov. 13, 2024, that sealed Child Advocacy Center recordings and information, and Judge Patrick Wilson entered a similar order in July 2025.

According to reports, McArdle is accused of identifying the name of a child witness in court filings and unencrypted emails, making the child’s identity, which included their address, available to others against those orders.

McArdle’s attorney in the matter, Michael Benninger of Morgantown, said that in his early investigation of the charges, he doesn’t believe McArdle did anything wrong in the case.

“It’s my understanding that there have been a number of trials where a child has testified in open court without the court being closed,” he said. “It’s my understanding that the statements that are asserted to have been improperly revealed or produced have also been evidence or subject to open argument in actual criminal litigation where attorneys have to be able to freely argue and present evidence under the court’s authority to control when and where that is done.

“You have to be able to represent your clients in a given case,” he added. “And the state doesn’t get to control the narrative. It appears that that’s the case here, and I’m not concerned at all that there’s any factual scenario as set forth in the criminal complaint that Mrs. McArdle … did anything wrong.”

Benninger said he was concerned that these charges only came up after the original trial had ended in a hung jury and was getting set for a new trial.

“This raises serious questions of protocol, of procedure, of prosecutorial actions that will be carefully evaluated by me and many others who are going to focus on this behavior,” he said.