CHARLESTON – State Supreme Court Justice Beth Walker will remain on the bench.
After about two hours of deliberation, the state Senate – acting as the jury for the court of impeachment – voted 32-1 not to remove Walker from office.
The vote came on the second day of Walker’s trial. She is the first of four Justices who will face impeachment trials.
The lone vote in favor of Walker's removal was Senator Stephen Baldwin, a Democrat from Greenbrier County.
After taking a brief recess following the acquittal, the state Senate did introduce a resolution officially publicly reprimanding and censuring Walker.
"I am grateful to the members of the West Virginia Senate for their careful deliberations and for permitting me to continue to serve the citizens of this great state as a justice," Walker said in a statement after the ruling. "I look forward to getting back to the important work of deciding cases fairly and impartially based on the rule of law.
"In addition, we have serious work to do to improve the administration of the court and prevent inappropriate future expenditures. My commitment to greater transparency and accountability in the judicial branch is unwavering. That includes significant work to change policies and practices to rebuild public trust in the court. I look forward to working with the Legislature toward better oversight of the court’s budget."
One witness took the stand Tuesday before closing arguments were made. Then, the state Senate closed the doors to its chamber to deliberate. The doors were closed for nearly two hours before being opened again.
During the first day of the impeachment trial, Walker apologized to taxpayers and to lawmakers for “mistakes I made” that led to her being impeached and on trial for removal from the bench.
“I want to apologize for being here,” Walker said during cross-examination by her own attorney Oct. 1 during the first day of her trial in the state Senate chambers. “I regret so much the mistakes I made, and I’m sorry. I need to apologize to the taxpayers and to you, so I want to apologize for all of this.
“I have learned from my mistakes to be sure. I think we can restore public trust in the judiciary. I appreciate your consideration.”
Walker is the first of four justices on trial for impeachment before the state Senate.
The trial began with acting Chief Justice Paul T. Farrell giving the senators, who are acting as the jury in the court of impeachment, instructions. He asked them to remain impartial and to avoid social media.
“This is extremely important not only to Justice Walker but to West Virginia and to all of its citizens,” Farrell said. “I urge you all to be West Virginians; not Democrats, not Republicans.”
Before testimony began, Farrell also dismissed Walker’s motion to dismiss the impeachment charge against her.
Walker was the first witness to take the stand, and she first was questioned by House Judiciary Chairman John Shott, who is presenting the House’s case against Walker. Part of Shott’s line of questioning focused on working lunches brought in for justices and staff on days when the court heard cases or met to discuss opinions and other matters.
“I should never have participated in these lunches in the first place,” Walker testified. “But I do not believe they were illegal.”
Walker also noted that she paid back one-fifth of the expenses related to the lunches for 2017, her first on the court. She also said she had asked former Chief Justice Allen Loughry about figuring out her amount of the lunches, and he told her there wasn’t a way to do so. But she said she promptly paid that one-fifth of the amount when she learned of the cost.
Shott also asked Walker about hiring outside counsel to write a complex opinion for her. She testified that she was working with two law clerks as opposed to four. And, one of her clerks was out of the office for a few months on maternity leave. So, she had the court hire Barbara Allen, who now is the court’s administrative director, to write the opinion for $10,000. Walker said her staff costs still were lower than any of the other justices.
Shott also asked Walker about the renovations to her office for $130,000, just a few years after the same office had been renovated by former Justice Brent Benjamin for $264,000.
“I am quite aware of that, and I regret it sincerely,” Walker testified, noting that there were two chairs, a table and a few lamps when she took office.
During his opening statements, Shott said Walker recognized that Walker is the newest member of the court in the impeachment proceedings.
“Our position is she came into an atmosphere of entitlement, an atmosphere of cavalier indifference — and its also our position she was uniquely qualified to realize the absence of policies, the atmosphere of reckless spending, of lackadaisical approach to the protection of taxpayer assets,” he said. “She didn’t waste any time joining the party. She immediately became infected by the same atmosphere.
“Her behavior continued unabated until the light of the press. … Did the general public receive a benefit from these expenditures?”
During his opening statements, Walker’s attorney Mike Hissam said his client “did not engage in any conduct that would justify the extraordinary remedy of removing her from office against the will of the voters.”
“Unlike other officials in our State Constitution, the power of a single Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals who is not the Chief Justice is tightly constrained,” Hissam said. “You will also learn that, when it comes to overall administration of the Court or the statewide judicial system, a single justice is no more powerful than she is to decide an appeal where she is outvoted 4 to 1.”
Hissam also said Article of Impeachment XIV – the only one that mentions Walker – is difficult to understand.
“It is everything, and nothing,” he said. “It is a catch-all mishmash of all sorts of administrative practices, many of which Beth never had anything to do with, like home offices and senior status judgment payments.
“We know Article XIV can’t concern Beth’s office renovations, because the House rejected an article of impeachment dealing with exactly those issues. To further complicate things, Article XIV refers to events that occurred before Beth joined the court. And it refers to other matters only within the purview of the Chief Justice or the Court’s administrative staff – positions she never held.”
When he cross-examined Walker, Hissam asked her if she would do anything differently regarding the renovations of her office.
“A lot,” Walker said. “I should have stopped the project and reassessed it. I definitely made a mistake and should have corrected it. I regret the office remodeling. I was not a good steward of the taxpayer dollars. …
Talking about impeachment, Walker also said, “I think of stealing, lying and corruption, and I don’t think I’ve done any of those things.”
Hissam also asked Walker about the work done by former court administrator Steve Canterbury. She said Loughry, who is suspended and starts a federal trial Oct. 2, and current Chief Justice Margaret Workman had issues with his performance. He was fired just days after Walker took office. She voted to fire him.
“I trusted them that their concerns were legitimate,” Walker testified. “There was a lot of spending that was indefensible. It was inappropriate, it was just too much, including my office, sadly.”
Canterbury responded to that comment on Twitter.
“The one thing I recall telling her during the transition regarding her soon-to-be office was that the court didn’t have any money in its budget for remodeling,” he tweeted. “I guess with the end of so many programs, they found some $130,000 for her decorating.”
