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Hearing set on conduct charges against Loughry

CHARLESTON — The Judicial Hearing Board has agreed with the motions filed Monday asking for a stay to be lifted and for an expedited hearing regarding judicial conduct charges against Allen Loughry, a justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Darrell Pratt, vice-chairman of the Judicial Hearing Board, granted the motion to lift the stay imposed in June shortly after Loughry was charged in a 22-count federal indictment.

Loughry in June was charged in a 32-count complaint by the Judicial Investigations Commission shortly before the federal charges were announced. The commission amended its complaint Monday to 33 counts, including Loughry’s conviction on Oct. 12 of 11 federal charges, including wiretapping, making false statements and witness tampering.

“Because 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,” Pratt wrote.

The Judicial Hearing Board set Jan. 14 for the hearing. The date is within the 120-day requirement to schedule a hearing date and it is also before Loughry is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 18 in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

According to the scheduling order, the commission and Loughry’s attorney, John Carr, are instructed to complete discovery by Dec. 21 with any motions, exchanges of witness and exhibit lists due by Dec. 31.

The Judicial Hearing Board is charged with conducting hearings on ethics charges filed by the commission against judicial officers and Supreme Court justices. The commission investigates violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

Loughry is accused by the commission of denying his direct involvement with more than $363,000 in office renovations and furnishings, with thousands of dollars being spent on a couch and a wooden cut-out of the counties of West Virginia on the floor of his office. He also is accused of taking state equipment and furniture to his home, using state vehicles and fuel cards for unofficial business and deception regarding federal subpoenas.

Loughry is suspended without pay and is awaiting trial in the state Senate for multiple articles of impeachment. His trial, as well as the impeachment trials of Chief Justice Margaret Workman and former justice Robin Davis, is indefinitely postponed.

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