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.
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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.
