CHARLESTON – The state Judicial Hearing Board has scheduled a hearing against convicted and suspended state Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry.
The board lifted a stay Oct. 23 and set the hearing for Jan. 14, which is just days before Loughry will be sentenced in federal court on 11 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, witness tampering and lying to federal agents.
State Disciplinary Counsel Teresa Tarr had requested the actions Oct. 22 in a motion to the JHB, which had issued the stay at Loughry’s request because of the then-pending federal trial. He was convicted Oct. 12.
The Jan. 14 hearing will take place at the Kanawha County Judicial Annex in Charleston.
“Because (of) the underlying criminal proceedings the pendency of which were the basis for the stay…the Motion to Lift Stay and Expedite Formal Proceedings is hereby GRANTED,” Wayne Circuit Judge Darrell Pratt, who is vice chairman of the JHB, wrote in the Oct. 23 order.
The order also give the state Judicial Investigation Commission and Loughry attorney John Carr until Dec. 21 to complete discovery. Motions, witness lists and exhibit lists are to be finished by Dec. 31.
In addition, the JIC amended its formal charges against Loughry on Oct. 22 to include his federal conviction. The JIC filed its statement of charges in early June against Loughry. That led to him being suspended by the state Supreme Court based on those 32 charges. He also was impeached – along with Chief Justice Margaret Workman, Justice Robin Jean Davis and Justice Beth Walker.
Walker already had her trial in the state Senate and was acquitted. Workman and Davis have had their impeachment trials halted by Cabell Circuit Judge Paul Farrell, who is overseeing the impeachment trials in the state Senate, following a ruling by an acting state Supreme Court in Workman’s favor to stop her impeachment trial on constitutional and procedural grounds, saying the House of Delegate did not follow proper procedures. That included not passing a full resolution adopting the articles of impeachment and not having the findings of fact in the articles.
No ruling has been issued concerning Loughry’s impeachment trial yet.
The Judicial Hearing Board is a nine-member panel that consists of Circuit Court judges, Family Court judges, magistrates, attorneys and lay people.