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CHARLESTON -- A state and federal investigation continues more than a year after revelations showed numerous issues with an alleged scheme that saw select misdemeanor charges dropped in exchange for cash donations to a holiday gift program run by the St. Marys Police Department.
According to documents filed with Clerk of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, a case brought against Pleasants County Prosecutor Brian Carr and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Paul Marteney by the Investigative Panel of the West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board remains paused due to a federal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the North District of West Virginia into the now-defunct St. Marys Police Department's Slow Down for the Holidays program.
An order filed Sept. 26 by the Hearing Panel Subcommittee of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board ruled in favor of Carr and Marteney, staying all further proceedings until the Supreme Court's Office of Disciplinary Counsel completes investigations of eight attorneys whose clients had charges against them dropped by Carr and Marteney in exchange for cash donations to the Slow Down program.
"Accordingly, it is hereby ordered … that this matter is stayed until such a time as the Office of Disciplinary Counsel has completed its investigation on the eight attorneys listed herein," wrote William Mundy, chairman of the Hearing Panel Subcommittee. "At that time, a status conference will be held in this matter and the status of the federal investigation will be explored."
On Sept. 2, the panel heard arguments for and against a motion by Marteney seeking information from the ODC regarding eight attorneys who allegedly participated in the Slow Down program.
The names of the accused attorneys were redacted. The ODC refused to provide information to Marteney's attorney's citing active investigations against the eight attorneys, who also would have been possible witnesses against Carr and Marteney in future proceedings.
Attorneys for Marteney and Carr argued that due process and the Rules for Lawyers Disciplinary Procedure require the ODC to provide the requested information.
The Hearing Panel Subcommittee instead moved to continue the matter indefinitely until the ODC completed its investigations into the eight attorneys.
"The panel is troubled by the concept of permitting the Office of Disciplinary Counsel to call as witnesses these eight attorneys without full disclosure …" Mundy wrote. "The panel is also troubled by the concept of permitting counsel for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel to call these attorneys as witnesses whom it is presently investigating and over whom there could certainly be the appearance of influence and control by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel."
Mundy wrote that the Hearing Panel also cited the federal investigation into Carr and Marteney as concerns going forward. In March, the Hearing Panel granted a motion to stay the disciplinary case against both Carr and Marteney for 90 days after their attorneys admitted to the federal probe.
"… The panel remains aware of the continuing ongoing federal investigation into the Slow Down for the Holiday's Program," Mundy wrote. "The panel also has grave concerns about the ability of (Carr and Marteney) themselves to testify and defend themselves in light of the federal investigation."
Former St. Marys Police Department clerk Carolyn Taylor pleaded guilty to perjury at the beginning of summer for lying to federal investigators about taking gift cards from the Slow Down program for personal use.
The Slow Down program began in 2008 while Carr was a municipal judge for the city. The program would dismiss minor traffic infractions between October and December each year in exchange for donations of $50 gift cards or the equivalent of $50 in toys.
The Pleasants County Prosecuting Attorney's office and the Pleasants County Sheriff's Department became involved in the program in 2018 after Carr was elected as the county's top attorney. But the Investigative Panel of the West Virginia Lawyer Disciplinary Board charged Carr and Marteney last October with multiple violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct for dismissing select state misdemeanor charges between 2018 and 2020 in exchange for monetary donations to the Slow Down program.
State investigators said Carr and Marteney's selection of only a few misdemeanor cases, some for driving under the influence, in exchange for monetary donations constituted a "bribe." Carr alone is accused of 178 violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct in 21 separate counts. The ODC filed a petition March 11 seeking the immediate suspension of Carr's law license with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
An investigation last year by the Judicial Investigation Commission resulted in the resignations of the county's two magistrates for their role in the Slow Down program. The Investigative Panel of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board also found that the City of St. Marys did not keep track of funds to the Slow Down program, nor did it track how donations to the program were spent.