The House Judiciary Committee on Friday went over several receipts detailing construction costs, court lunches and justices’ usage of court vehicles.

Committee Counsel Marsha Kauffman called Justin Robinson, acting director of the Post Audit Division, as the first and only witness of the day.

Robinson said the Legislative Auditor is in the process of digesting about 1,000 pages of documents and invoices detailing renovation of the state Supreme Court.

Robinson said the notebook the office had before was incomplete. He said on Thursday, he was informed by the court that the info he was previously provided was incomplete. Robinson said interim director of court administration Barbara Allen indicated that the omission of documentation was made at the request of suspended Justice Allen Loughry.

Robinson detailed summaries of some of the invoices. For office renovations, he said Justice Robin Davis’ cost was $500,000, Loughry’s was $363,000, former Justice Brent Benjamin’s was $264,000, Menis Ketchum, who resigned, was $171,000, Justice Beth Walker, who took over Benjamin’s office, was $130,000, and Chief Justice Margaret Workman’s cost was $111,000.

Robinson said Ketchum disputed some of these charges.

The total cost of framing was $114,788 for all justices, Robinson said.

The committee also reviewed the cost of lunches for justices and their staffs. The total amount over a five-year period was $42,314 for working lunches. For unverified court events, the cost was $4,342. These were times where there was no verified court event.

The committee also went over usage of court vehicles, specifically two instances of Loughry. In one instance, Loughry took a state vehicle to Tucker County, saying the purpose was for meeting with magistrates. However, he also appeared in the magistrate courtroom during a case filed by a pest management company against Loughry’s father.

Committee Counsel Brian Casto said the company alleged Loughry’s father refused to pay for termite treatment at his home. Casto noted the case was dismissed.

The committee also looked into logs of Loughry checking out a state vehicle and dates of his book signings. He detailed one instance where Loughry checked out a state vehicle on the day of a book signing at The Greenbrier.

He said checks from the book signings were written directly to Loughry’s wife, who is scheduled to testify at the committee’s next hearing.

Committee Chair John Shott, R-Mercer, said the committee is scheduled to take a tour of the state Supreme Court on Aug. 6. The committee is adjourned until further call of the chair.

The House Judiciary Committee continued its fifth day of impeachment hearings Thursday, which was consumed by testimony from former West Virginia Supreme Court Administrator Steve Canterbury.

Before taking testimony, Chairman John Shott, R-Mercer, said the committee issued a subpoena for Loughry’s wife, who asked for a delay to obtain counsel.

Canterbury’s testimony mainly centered on suspended Justice Allen Loughry. He testified about renovations to Loughry’s office, personal items that were framed at the court’s expense, and Loughry’s decision to take home a couch that belonged to former Justice Joseph Albright. Canterbury also testified about the decline of his relationship with Loughry, in particular.

Committee Counsel Marsha Kauffman’s first line of questioning focused on the court’s usage of state cars, which Canterbury said was brought on by publicity on the use of state cars in general. This led Justice Robin Davis to inquire with Canterbury about the court’s usage of state vehicles.

Canterbury said Justice Menis Ketchum, who resigned, asked back in 2007 if he could use one of the court’s Buicks to commute. He said Ketchum was the only justice who used the car for commuting.

Davis later sent a memo to Canterbury in 2016 because she wanted more information on how court cars were assigned and used. Canterbury said Davis expressed concerns that the use of vehicles was not appropriate.

Canterbury said in response, Loughry asked about dinners held at Davis’ home when judicial conferences were hosted in Charleston, as well as a cocktail party held in Wyoming during a chief justice annual meeting.

He said Loughry contended Davis’ concerns about his vehicle usage was a distraction from these dinners.

Canterbury said there had been only one instance where food was partially funded by the court and one where bus transportation was funded by the court.

Canterbury said justices later voted 3-2, with Davis and former Justice Brent Benjamin as the two voting against, voted that justices did not need to be asked why they were taking the vehicles.

“The presumption was if they were taking a car, it must be for appropriate use,” Canterbury said.

Canterbury recalled a conversation with Loughry about moving a couch to his house. Previous testimony indicated that Loughry took home a couch that belonged to former Justice Joseph Albright, along with other furnishings including computers and a Cass Gilbert desk.

“He told me he thought he would take that couch home for his home office,” Canterbury said. “My reaction, frankly, was ‘what?’ But I said OK. I wanted to try to serve those guys. I asked to arrange for moving and he said he would take care of it.”

Canterbury also testified about renovations to justices’ offices. Kauffman asked Canterbury about Loughry’s contention that he had little input into these renovations. Canterbury said this was not true and that Loughry had daily involvement with renovations and wrote emails around the clock detailing his specifications.

“He was very involved,” Canterbury said. “He was more involved than any other justice, by a longshot.”

Canterbury also said Loughry sketched a floor plan of how he wanted his office to look, including a floor medallion depicting a county map of West Virginia. Canterbury said Loughry also specified that Tucker County, which is where Loughry is from, to be “blue pearl granite.”

Canterbury said he had a brief conversation with Loughry about the cost of the couch in his office. He said he brought up to Loughry that the price tag was $32,000.

“I happened to catch him in the hall and said this couch is $32,000. Want me to go through with this? His answer in hindsight seems to be prophetic,” Canterbury said. “He said, yes, and if it ever becomes public, I’ll blame it on you. You’re the administrator. And he chuckled.”

Canterbury said other than that conversation, he had nothing to do with the couch. Canterbury said Loughry, Loughry’s wife, and Loughry’s secretary went to Carpet Gallery and picked out a blue suede fabric, which was the reason for the couch’s hefty price tag.

Canterbury also said Loughry had several items framed –including a page of uncut $2 bills, newspaper articles, a poster of his book, a swearing in photo along with his first written opinion and syllabus page. Canterbury said two items he never saw in Loughry’s office. These were a watercolor picture of Loughry’s name, which was painted after his wedding, and an etching of the building Loughry and his wife were married.

Canterbury estimated the cost of framing to be in the $10,000-$12,000 range.  

In addition to the furnishings, Canterbury said Loughry also had other requests for his office including a standing desk and a taller toilet.

Canterbury also detailed renovations done to other justices’ offices. He said the majority of Davis’ renovations were structural in nature, saying workers even found paper-covered wiring in the walls. He estimated three-fourths of the cost of renovations to her office were structural in nature. However, he said there were a few expensive items including an expensive chair and rugs. He said Chief Justice Margaret Workman also had an expensive floor in the foyer of her office.

Canterbury also testified on his relationship with Loughry. He said he felt the beginning could have been an instance where Loughry was a clerk at the court. He said an employee came to him, saying Loughry made sexually harassing comments to her. Canterbury said he went to former Justice Spike Maynard and told him about Loughry’s conduct. After that, he said the comments stopped.  

Canterbury said his relationship with Loughry went downhill shortly after Loughry was elected. Canterbury said Loughry told him he knew Canterbury advised a former justice to fire him when he worked for the court as a law clerk. Canterbury said this conversation between him and the former justice never happened.

Canterbury said in 2014, Loughry told him he wanted Canterbury to submit his resignation because he felt Canterbury had disrespected him with a comment referencing his age. Canterbury said he didn’t remember saying this either. From that point, Canterbury said Loughry didn’t speak to him and would reference him in third person even when he was in the room.

Canterbury testified about his firing, saying he worked for the court for 11.5 years before Loughry fired him.  

 “I said every cloud has a silver lining. I said, at least I won’t have to work for a simulacrum in chief like you,” Canterbury said referring to Loughry, who had taken the position of chief justice days before.

Canterbury later defined the word he used to call Loughry, saying it means an “elaborate fraud.”

“I think he’s dishonest. I don’t think he has the temperament to be a justice. I don’t think he has the temperament to be in charge of hiring people. I found his entire tone to be off-putting,” Canterbury said in response to a question from Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, on why Canterbury called Loughry a “simulacrum.”

For today’s schedule, the committee will review information on construction cost. Chairman John Shott, R-Mercer, said the committee likely will not meet next week but will meet the following week.

The House Judiciary Committee voted Friday to postpone its scheduled tour of the West Virginia Supreme Court and will ask the court for a tour as a committee accompanied by three members of the media.

Friday marked the fourth day of testimony. Committee Attorney Marsha Kauffman began by reading an affidavit as testimony from Kim Ellis, director of administrative services of the West Virginia Supreme Court. The affidavit was testimony taken from the Judicial Investigation Commission.

Ellis’ testimony from the affidavit said suspended Justice Allen Loughry personally selected the fabric and down in the decorative custom pillows and sketched a map detailing placement of furnishings in his office.

Ellis’ testimony continued, saying the day after former Court Administrator Steve Canterbury was fired, Loughry called Ellis on her personal cell phone. Her testimony said Loughry told her of Canterbury’s firing and said it was his understanding she was a “spy or loyal to Steve Canterbury” but said she had nothing to worry about with her job. Loughry asked her to keep the conversation “off the record,” Kauffman read. The affidavit continued saying Ellis worried about her job. 

The testimony continued recalling a meeting with Ellis, Loughry, and former Court Administrator Gary Johnson where Ellis was questioned about the costs associated with renovations. Ellis’ testimony said Loughry asked her if she recalled a meeting with him where he asked her to write down costs of renovations for former Justice Menis Ketchum and Chief Justice Margaret Workman. Ellis said she felt Loughry was trying to intimidate her or coercer her to lie,

The committee also played the entire recording of Loughry’s budget presentation before the House Finance Committee during session. Judiciary Chair John Shott, R-Mercer, said the Judicial Investigation Committee took Loughry’s entire testimony into account for its charges. In a previous impeachment hearing, the committee had just played the statement quoted in the commission’s complaint. 

The committee granted a motion from Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, to postpone the committee’s scheduled tour of the West Virginia Supreme Court. Fluharty cited First Amendment concerns because members of the media were not allowed on this tour.

The committee granted a second motion from Fluharty to request the court for a tour as a committee accompanied by three members of the media.

Shott said because of the change in nature of the tour, the court informed the committee that it needed to gather the court to discuss. He said the tour would not take place on Friday.

For next week, Shott also said the committee plans to issue a subpoena of Loughry’s wife, inquire into an alleged missing computer, inquire of additional information on renovation expenses, inquire from the state Auditor’s office on the court’s hiring of a consultant, and look into book signings conducted using state vehicles to travel. Shott also said Canterbury is expected to testify next week, saying this could consume a full day or more. 

Shott said this schedule depends on the availability of witnesses.

The House Judiciary Committee is in recess until 9 a.m. Thursday, July 26.

The House Judiciary Committee reconvened Thursday to resume testimony in impeachment proceedings of one or more state Supreme Court justices.

Committee Counsel John Hardison called Jess Gundy, West Virginia Supreme Court deputy director of security, as the first witness. Most of Thursday morning’s testimony focused on the move of a couch and Cass Gilbert desk, which was valued at about $42,000, from Justice Allen Loughry’s home to a court warehouse.

Gundy recalled a meeting with Justice Allen Loughry, former Court Administrator Gary Johnson, and a state Supreme Court attorney, where Loughry asked Gundy to help move the desk and couch from his house.

“He made sure to tell me that he was not asking me to do anything improper because it was permissible to have a home office but he wanted to get it out of the house because of a newspaper article the day or two before that said he had this at his residence,” Gundy said. 

Gundy said he, Paul Mendez and Arthur Angus got in a court van and followed Loughry to his residence. When they arrived at Loughry’s house, Loughry showed them the desk in a smaller room and the couch, Gundy said.

“The desk was crammed into the room,” Gundy said in describing the desk and the layout of the house. “It was a big desk in a small room. “

Gundy said they proceeded to unload the couch into the van. Loughry then said one of his neighbors was taking a photo of the move, Gundy said.

He and Angus got in the court van while Loughry and Mendez got in Loughry’s car to drop the couch at the warehouse.

Gundy said they did not move the desk because he said Loughry was waiting for his neighbor to leave. Gundy recalled Loughry getting a call from his wife saying the neighbor left and they went back to Loughry’s home to retrieve the desk and unload it at the court’s warehouse.

Gundy said the move took place during regular work hours and said it was paid for by the court.

Hardison asked if moving furniture into a justice’s home was part of his job description, which Gundy replied, “It was an unusual request.” However, Gundy said he didn’t think anything of the request because Loughry told him it was permissible for justices to have a home office.

Gundy also testified about justices’ usage of state vehicles. A legislative audit report from the Legislative Auditor’s office found Loughry had frequent use of state vehicles without listing a business purpose.

Gundy said Loughry had keys to all three court vehicles. He said he couldn’t recall Loughry ever telling him where he was going in these vehicles.

 “He said other justices in the chamber did not need to know where he was going,” Gundy said.

Gundy said during holidays, Loughry would take the state vehicles home and bring it back following a long weekend.

“There were a couple of occasions he had it for a very long time,” Gundy said, noting he couldn’t recall specific days.

Gundy said Loughry turned in the keys following publicity about use of state vehicles.

***

After breaking for lunch, the committee called three more witnesses before recessing for the day—Jennifer Bundy, public information officer at the state Supreme Court; Paul Mendez, court security messenger; and Arthur Angus, director of court security.

Committee Counsel Marsha Kauffman asked Bundy about an email she sent last year—a response from Loughry about the furniture. Bundy said Loughry told her there was a home office policy.

However, Bundy said she later found out after sending out the statement that no such policy exists.

Bundy said after Loughry took over as chief justice in 2017, Canterbury was fired the next day. She said she considered Canterbury a good friend.

Bundy also testified that she was later kept out of the loop with media responses and she did not know of an interview with Loughry and Davis until she saw it on TV.

She said she became concerned about her job and approached Johnson and Loughry about her concerns.

“I asked them if I would lose my job and why aren’t they involving me in the conversation,” Bundy said. “Justice Loughry said I would not lose my job. Judge Johnson said the reason they were not involving me is because I am friends with Canterbury and they didn’t want to put me in a difficult position.”

Committee Counsel Brian Casto called Mendez as the third witness.

Mendez recalled moving the couch to Loughry’s home. Mendez said this was the only couch in Loughry’s living room. He said the couch was so large that he, Gundy and Angus had to take the doors off the frames to move it out of the house.

As Gundy testified earlier in the day, Mendez also said after Loughry received a call from his wife saying the neighbor who had taken pictures of the move of the couch, had left, they then went back to the house to get the desk out of Loughry’s house.

Angus also recalled Loughry asking him to help move the couch.  Angus said the couch was in Justice Joseph Albright’s office. Justice Thomas McHugh later inherited the office and Loughry inherited McHugh’s office.

Angus also testified of the location of all five Cass Gilbert desks. Previous testimony indicated that one was missing. However, Angus said all were in various offices at the state Supreme Court.

As Gundy earlier testified, Angus also said Loughry never told him where he took court vehicles and he had keys to all of the court’s Buicks. Angus said Loughry got the keys following Canterbury’s firing.

Angus said Loughry had a practice of taking vehicles after court had adjourned sine die.

“There were several occasions where he would get it near a weekend and it would come back on a Monday or Tuesday,” Angus said.

Although most of Thursday’s testimony focused on Loughry, Angus also testified on a trip where he accompanied Davis.

Angus said he drove her to Wheeling for court business. He said they went to a newspaper for an interview about an anti-truancy program and then to the courthouse for a court function.

He said he then drove her to the Wheeling airport where Davis departed on a private plane to Parkersburg. He said he drove her to the hotel and she later left to go to a political function. However, Angus said he did not accompany her to the political function.

The House Judiciary Committee will reconvene 9:15 a.m. Friday. The committee is scheduled to take a tour of the West Virginia Supreme Court on Friday.  

The House Judiciary Committee continued taking witness testimony in the second day of impeachment proceedings.

Friday morning, Committee Chief Counsel Marsha Kauffman called Scott Harvey, former West Virginia Supreme Court database administrator and former director of technology.

Harvey testified that he and other employees made multiple visits to Justice Allen Loughry’s home to extend internet access between Loughry’s house and the state Supreme Court and to set up two desktop computers—one in the kitchen/family area and one in a room Loughry referred to as an office area.  

Harvey testified one of these desktops served a “shared” computer in which Loughry’s family had access. Harvey said he personally questioned the need for the computer in the family room and allowing family members to use a state computer.

On a fourth visit to Loughry’s house, Harvey said they had to deal with a virus on the family room computer.

“It came to me through the IT chain that there were a lot of games installed on the computer,” Harvey said.

Harvey said other justices had computers in their homes but he had never done a site survey with the other justices to the extent or degree he did with Loughry.

Harvey also testified about a consulting firm hired to program a statewide magistrate court system, which took the entire magistrate court system from paper to electronic.

He said he did not believe was necessary because the court could have done the work with their own employees. Harvey said this was an opportunity for the court to bring in revenue but there was a lack of knowledge about how the payment process should be handled within the state.

He said the court came up with its own way of how they would do it but the state treasurer disagreed with that method.

Harvey said it involved the fee payment processing on the state Supreme Court server instead of the treasurer’s server, which is why the treasurer objected. He said after this document was re-worked that said the treasurer would process the payments, the treasurer signed off on the document.

He said Justice Menis Ketchum threatened him twice, saying if he didn’t get the treasurer to sign off on the document, he would be fired.

Ketchum submitted his letter of retirement/resignation Wednesday so the committee will not consider evidence against him.

The committee later called Paul Fletcher Adkins, assistant to the administrative director of courts, as a witness. Adkins worked at the state Supreme Court for 35 years.

Adkins said he approved the bill for Young’s Moving Service. He said the moving company transported office furniture on West Virginia Day from Loughry’s office into a warehouse during renovations at the court. 

Adkins met the people from Young’s Moving Service at the warehouse to let them in and then locked up the warehouse when he left.

However, before the moving company went to the warehouse, Adkins said the moving company stopped at Loughry’s house and then went to the Capitol to pick up furniture to transport to the warehouse.

When asked what specific items were unloaded into the warehouse, Adkins said nothing stood out to him. He said there was a single item delivered to Dudley Drive, under Loughry’s supervision. However, he did not know what that was.

“If something was delivered to Dudley Drive and under the supervision of a justice, there was nothing I would have to say about it,” he said.

Adkins confirmed Loughry used a Cass Gilbert desk when he served as a law clerk with the court but said he was unsure if he had it in his chamber.

Before recessing, the committee played an audio clip from Loughry’s testimony before the House Finance Committee during session and then a WCHS interview with Loughry.

In the interview, Loughry called the expenses “outrageous and shameful.” He said he had “very little input” into the renovations and furnishings of his office. Loughry said former court administrative director Steve Canterbury was in charge of the expenditures.

The Judiciary Committee will resume work on impeachment proceedings 9 a.m. Thursday, July 19.

House Judiciary Committee members continued taking testimony into the evening Thursday as part of impeachment proceedings.

Late last month, the West Virginia Legislature convened its second special session. The West Virginia House of Delegates immediately took up and adopted House Resolution 201, which calls for investigating allegations of impeachable offenses against the Chief Justice and justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

The meeting, which began Thursday morning, focused on testimony related to three legislative audit reports on the state’s highest court.

Judiciary Chief Counsel Marsha Kauffman called Justin Robinson, acting director of the Post Audit Division, as the first witness. Robinson testified about the legislative audit reports detailing alleged personal use of state vehicles from justices.  

The first audit found Justice Allen Loughry had frequent use of state vehicles without listing a business purpose. The Legislative Auditor also questioned Loughry’s use of state-paid rental cars during out-of-state trips

The second audit found Justice Robin Davis had seven uses of a court vehicle where a destination was provided but no business purpose was listed.

The audit found no issues regarding vehicle reservations by Chief Justice Margaret Workman or Justice Beth Walker.

Delegate Andrew Robinson, D-Kanawha, made a motion to amend the rules of Judiciary Chairman John Shott, R-Mercer. Shott denied the amendment and Robinson challenged the ruling. However, that motion failed because Shott said there needed to be 10 members of the committee to join Robinson in that motion.

Many of the questions Thursday afternoon centered on out-of-state trips for conferences and the amount of miles from Justice Allen Loughry’s trips that Justin Robinson said exceeded the amount of miles from the hotel to the conference.

Committee Counsel called Legislative Auditor and Legislative Manager Aaron Allred as the second witness.

Many of the questions centered on a Cass Gilbert desk, valued at about $42,000, that the legislative audit report said was moved to Loughry’s house. Allred said the report found in June 2013, a moving company transported furniture to Loughry’s home. However, he could not say for sure what specifically was moved at that time.

Allred said it is his understanding Loughry later had court employees come to his house, while they were on the clock, to move the desk to a court warehouse.

 Delegate Mark Zatezalo, R-Hancock, said, “it scares me that a law clerk was using a $42,000 desk,” referencing that Loughry used the desk during his time as a law clerk.

After a 45-minute break, the Judiciary Committee reconvened and called Justin Robinson back as a witness to testify about the third legislative audit report. This report questioned the spend down of the West Virginia Supreme Court’s excess fund balance, which went from $29 million to $333,514 in four years.

Justice Menis Ketchum submitted his letter of retirement/resignation on Wednesday. Judiciary Chair John Shott, R-Mercer, said the committee will not consider evidence against Ketchum because of that resignation.

Shott said because of this, he anticipates the agenda to be shortened by about a day. The committee recessed until 9 a.m. Friday.

The House Judiciary Committee began the impeachment process, starting its Thursday morning meeting with an explanation of the proceedings and calling the first witness

Late last month, the West Virginia Legislature convened its second special session. The West Virginia House of Delegates immediately took up and adopted House Resolution 201, which calls for investigating allegations of impeachable offenses against the Chief Justice and justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Justice Menis Ketchum submitted his letter of retirement/resignation on Wednesday. Judiciary Chair John Shott, R-Mercer, said the committee will not consider evidence against Ketchum because of that resignation. Shott said this could shorten proceedings since the committee won’t need that time that would have been dedicated to those findings.

Before calling the first witness, Shott detailed the background and process of impeachment proceedings. The committee can vote to impeach, not to impeach or censure.

“I’ve spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking about what we are about to undertake. … The ultimately result of what we’re doing today is to overturn a duly elected official where tens of thousands voted for Supreme Court justices for 12-year terms and invested in them substantial trust,” Shott said.

“We have an obligation to also hold accountable those public officials who voters can’t hold accountable because of such a lengthy term,” Shott later said.

Shott cautioned members to not liken the proceeding to that of a grand jury or even to a preliminary hearing but to instead consider it a hybrid.

“In a grand jury, it’s intended to create leverage in favor of the state. … A preliminary hearing is the same with a low standard of probable cause,” he said.

Judiciary Chief Counsel Marsha Kauffman called Justin Robinson, acting director of the Post Audit Division, as the first witness. Robinson testified about the legislative audit reports detailing alleged personal use of state vehicles from justices.  

The first audit found Justice Allen Loughry had frequent use of state vehicles without listing a business purpose. The Legislative Auditor also questioned Loughry’s use of state-paid rental cars during out-of-state trips

The second audit found Justice Robin Davis had seven uses of a court vehicle where a destination was provided but no business purpose was listed.

The audit found no issues regarding vehicle reservations by Chief Justice Margaret Workman or Justice Beth Walker.

Delegates also questioned Robinson before breaking for lunch, reconvening at 1:30 p.m. 

The House Judiciary Committee met shortly following the House of Delegate’s adjournment Tuesday to start the impeachment process.

On Tuesday, the West Virginia Legislature convened its second special session. The House immediately took up and adopted House Resolution 201, investigating allegations of impeachable offenses against the Chief Justice and justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

The House Judiciary Committee is tasked with determining evidence to see if impeachable offenses have occurred.

Members heard from committee attorney Brian Casto, who presented a history of the impeachment process and detailed how the process works.

Legislators also heard from Marc Harman, who served in the House of Delegates during the 1989 impeachment of A. James Manchin. Harman shared his experience through that process.

“What you are about to undertake will not be pleasant but I hope you will rise to the occasion,” Harman told legislators. “What has happened has happened. I think you can define us as a state by how you handle it.”

Committee Chair Delegate John Shott, R-Mercer, said the committee will issue a subpoena to the Judicial Investigation Commission. Committee members are also scheduled to meet with the Legislative Auditor’s office.

Shott said the committee will meet as early as July 9 but no later than July 16.