Allen Hayes Loughry, II (born August 9, 1970) is a former justice on the

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of the state of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's state courts. The court sits primarily at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, although from 1873 t ...

. Loughry was arrested by the FBI in 2018 after being indicted by a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

. In October 2018, he was convicted on 11 federal offenses, specifically

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to fraud, defraud another, and are Federal crime in the United States, federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the ...

, making false statements to federal investigators,

witness tampering Witness tampering is the act of attempting to improperly influence, alter or prevent the testimony of witnesses within criminal or civil proceedings. Witness tampering and reprisals against witnesses in organized crime cases have been a difficul ...

and

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activit ...

.Lacie Pierson
WV Supreme Court Justice Loughry guilty on 11 of 22 federal charges
''Charleston Gazette-Mail'' (October 12, 2018). The following month, after facing

impeachment Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

, Loughry resigned from office.

Early life and education

Loughry was born in 1970 and grew up in

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...

Tucker County, West Virginia Tucker County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,762, making it West Virginia's fourth-least populous county. Its county seat is Parsons. The county was created in 1856 from a part of Ra ...

. He graduated from Tucker County High School in 1988 and went on to earn an undergraduate degree from the

Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism The WVU Reed College of Media is one of the sixteen colleges and schools at West Virginia University, located in Morgantown, West Virginia. It is currently housed in Martin Hall. History The WVU Reed College of Media was formerly known as the W ...

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

(1992). Loughry earned a J.D. degree from

Capital University Law School Capital University Law School is an American Bar Association#Accreditation of law schools, ABA-accredited private law school located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The law school is affiliated with Capital University, the oldest university in Centra ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

; an

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

in Law and Government and an S.J.D. (Doctor of Juridical Science) from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleyto ...

, and an

in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

.Allen Loughry
''West Virginia Encyclopedia'' (last revised November 12, 2018).

Career

Loughry was an assistant to U.S. Representative Harley O. Staggers, Jr. and Governor

Gaston Caperton William Gaston Caperton III (born February 21, 1940) is an American politician who served as the List of governors of West Virginia, 31st Governor of West Virginia from 1989 to 1997. He was president of the College Board, which administers the na ...

before joining the

West Virginia Attorney General West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

's Office as a senior assistant attorney general in 1997. In 2003, he left the attorney general's office to become a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

at the

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of the state of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's state courts. The court sits primarily at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, although from 1873 t ...

. He also taught political science classes at the University of Charleston. In 2006, Loughry published ''Don’t Buy Another Vote, I Won’t Pay for a Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia'', a review of the history of political corruption in the state. The forewords to the book were written by Senators

Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A ...

and

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

Election to state Supreme Court and election as chief justice

In 2012, Loughry ran as a Republican for a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court and won a 12-year term. He assumed office on January 1, 2013, succeeding Thomas McHugh, who retired from the bench. In April 2017, Loughry was selected to serve as Chief Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court for a four-year term. It was the first time a chief justice would serve four consecutive years since 1888. Previously, the chief justice had been elected by the Supreme Court to serve a one-year term, with a few justices serving two years in a row, but the court "voted to change its rules to provide for the chief justice to serve a four-year term and to allow the chief justice to be re-elected to subsequent four-year terms by a majority vote of the members of the court."

Scandal

Federal prosecution and conviction

In late 2017, reports came to light of high spending by Loughry and Justice

Robin Davis Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') ** Bush-robin **Forest ro ...

totaling well more than a million dollars, and at an emergency meeting, he was replaced as Chief Justice by Justice

Margaret Workman Margaret Lee Workman (born May 22, 1947) is an American lawyer and a former justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. Her 1988 election to the Supreme Court made her the first woman elected to statewide office in West Virginia and ...

. On June 20, 2018, he was arrested at his home by the FBI, and later in the day Michael B. Stuart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, announced that a grand jury had indicted Loughry on 22 counts, including 16 counts of frauds and swindles, two counts of wire fraud, one count of witness tampering, and three counts of lying to federal investigators. Loughry’s federal criminal trial began on October 2. The trial concluded ten days later with Loughry being convicted of seven counts of

, one count of

and two counts of lying to the FBI. The jury found Loughry not guilty on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud. They also deadlocked on one count of wire fraud after United States District Judge John Copenhaver refused to issue an

Allen charge ''Allen v. United States'', 164 U.S. 492 (1896), was a United States Supreme Court case that, amongst other things, approved the use of a jury instruction intended to prevent a hung jury by encouraging jurors in the minority to reconsider. The C ...

to the jury concerning this count. Loughry was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison on February 13, 2019 and was sent to serve his sentence at FCI Williamsburg. He was released from prison on December 19, 2020.

Suspension from office, impeachment proceedings, and resignation

On June 6, 2018, the state Judicial Ethics Committee charged Loughry with 32 counts of violation of the code of judicial ethics. The Supreme Court, reconstituted with four circuit judges and a retired circuit judge, appointed for that purpose, suspended him without pay until further notice. On June 26, 2018,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Jim Justice James Conley Justice II (born April 27, 1951) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the 36th governor of West Virginia since 2017. Justice had a net worth of $1.2 billion in September 2018, making him the wealthiest person ...

called the

West Virginia Legislature The West Virginia Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of West Virginia. A bicameral legislative body, the legislature is split between the upper Senate and the lower House of Delegates. It was established under Article VI o ...

into special session to consider Loughry's impeachment. Following a series of controversies involving excessive spending, the House of Delegates, on the recommendation of the House Judiciary Committee, voted to

impeach Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In E ...

Loughry and justices Davis, Workman and Beth Walker on August 13, 2018 "for maladministration, corruption, incompetency, neglect of duty, and certain high crimes and misdemeanors". The fifth Supreme Court Judge,

Menis Ketchum Menis E. Ketchum II (born January 31, 1943, in Wayne County, West Virginia) is an American politician and jurist who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. He was elected as a Democrat to a twelve-year term on the C ...

, had already pled guilty to wire fraud and resigned. On November 9, 2018, Governor

called the West Virginia Legislature into another special session to correct the procedural errors of the prior impeachment proceedings. On November 12, 2018—one day before the state legislature was to convene in

special session In a legislature, a special session (also extraordinary session) is a period when the body convenes outside of the normal legislative session. This most frequently occurs in order to complete unfinished tasks for the year (often delayed by confli ...

to consider whether Loughry should be

Impeached Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

and removed from office—Loughry resigned.

Awards and honors

In 2013, the American University Washington College of Law awarded Loughry its Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2014, the Tucker County Chamber of Commerce awarded Loughry its Tuckineer Award, given to individuals for their civic commitment and service to

Tucker County Tucker County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,762, making it West Virginia's fourth-least populous county. Its county seat is Parsons. The county was created in 1856 from a part of Ra ...

.Beth Christian Broschart
Tuckineer Selected
''The Inter-Mountain'' (May 16, 2014).

References

Works

*Loughry, Allen. ''Don't Buy Another Vote, I Won't Pay for a Landslide: The Sordid and Continuing History of Political Corruption in West Virginia''. Parsons, WV: McClain Printing Company, 2006. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Loughry, Allen 1970 births 21st-century American judges Alumni of the University of London American prisoners and detainees Capital University Law School alumni Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Impeached United States officials Judges convicted of crimes Living people People convicted of making false statements People from Parsons, West Virginia Politicians convicted of mail and wire fraud Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Washington College of Law alumni West Virginia lawyers West Virginia politicians convicted of crimes West Virginia Republicans West Virginia University alumni