Tag: Kanawha County Circuit Court

Justice To Appoint Successor For Judge In Residency Case

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is preparing to appoint a judge who would be in line to hear the residency lawsuit filed against him.

Justice will decide who succeeds longtime Kanawha County Circuit Judge Charles King, who had been hearing the case but died in December, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

Applications for the position are being accepted through Jan. 27, and interviews will be held in Charleston on Feb. 11, according to a statement from the Governor’s Office. It wasn’t clear when the decision would be announced.

The residency case would fall to the appointee unless that person decides not to hear it, the newspaper reported. State Code does not require appointed circuit court judges to recuse themselves from cases with a possible conflict of interest. If the appointee decides not hear the case, it would go to another Kanawha circuit judge.

The residency lawsuit claims the governor is violating the state constitution by not living in Charleston. The governor’s defense counsel has said the courts shouldn’t dictate where the governor lives.

The West Virginia Supreme Court declined in November to dismiss the lawsuit and sent it back to circuit court.

Isaac Sponaugle, the Pendleton County attorney who filed the lawsuit, said Tuesday he expects the case to proceed normally.

“I usually give judges the benefit of the doubt. I just feel that’s proper,” he said. “They can take a look at it and make a determination for themselves, what they feel like they’ve got to do.”

An attorney for Justice’s counsel did not return the newspaper’s request for comment.

W.Va. Education Union Files Injunction As Governor Defends School Re-Entry Map

The West Virginia Education Association, which is West Virginia’s largest teachers’ union in the state, filed an injunction Monday morning challenging the safety of the governor’s school re-entry map.

The injunction claims the state map is unsafe and under constant manipulation by state officials just to get students back into brick-and-mortar classrooms.

The injunction also seeks to temporarily suspend the map, as well as the enforcement of the West Virginia Open Meeting Act as it relates to the panel that meets prior to the map’s posting on Saturday nights.

The school re-entry map is determined by a panel of experts every Saturday from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and the West Virginia Department of Education.

Last week, WVEA President Dale Lee announced his intention to file the injunction with the Kanawha County Circuit Court. It was officially filed Monday.

“We know how important it is for students to be back in classrooms working with their teachers,” Lee said in a news release. “No one wants in-person education more than our members, but they no longer feel their safety is the top priority of our state government’s leadership. Our goal is for students to return to school as soon as possible but we must be able to do that safely based on the circumstances in individual counties.”

The union points to Harvard’s color-coded map, which shows a higher rate of COVID-19 spread in the state. The union is calling on Gov. Jim Justice to follow this map, or independent health experts, instead.

Justice responded to the injunction in a recent virtual press briefing.

“If we were going just by the Harvard model, we know, we would have a third to a half of the state of West Virginia, probably the safest state in the nation, a third to a half of the state would be shut down,” Justice said. “You know, from the standpoint of being in school … We know 70 percent of the people in the state of West Virginia wanted to go back to school.”

The governor argues the move by the union is political.

Lawyers for Gov. Justice Ordered to Explain Residency Case Motions

Lawyers for the West Virginia governor have been ordered to explain motions filed in a lawsuit about the governor’s residency.

The News and Sentinel reports Mike Carey and George Terwilliger are set to appear in Kanawha County court Wednesday morning.

Democratic Del. Isaac Sponaugle has thrice sued to require Gov. Jim Justice to live in the state’s capital of Charleston per the state constitution. It says governors should “reside at the seat of the government.” Technicalities killed the previous lawsuits. Justice lives in Lewisburg.

One motion requests the judge explain why he nixed a motion to dismiss the case. The other motion asks the judge to certify a list of questions for the state Supreme Court of Appeals to answer before the case can proceed. Questions include defining the word “reside.”

New Judge Appointed to Vacant West Virginia Circuit Court

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has appointed Daniel W. Greear to a vacant judicial position.

Greear fills a vacancy in the 13th Judicial Circuit Court created when Judge James Stucky retired. Greear most recently served as chief of staff for House of Delegates Speaker Tim Armstead. He lives in Kanawha County with his wife and two sons.

Stucky, who retired in April, spent 21 years presiding over cases in Kanawha County.

Greear will serve until a judge is chosen by special election during the Nov. 8 general election. The special election is required because more than two years were left on Stucky’s term.

Recommendations Made for Vacant West Virginia Judicial Post

An advisory panel has sent a list of recommendations to West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice for a vacant judicial position.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports eight people applied this month to be appointed to the vacant Kanawha County Circuit Court judge position following the retirement of James Stucky in April. Stucky spent 21 years presiding over cases in Kanawha County.

The West Virginia Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission sent its list to Justice on Friday. The four recommended are House of Delegates Chief of Staff Daniel Wayne Greear and Charleston attorneys Benjamin Michael Mishoe, Gary Edward Pullin and Tera Lee Salango.

The appointee will serve until a judge is chosen by special election during the Nov. 8 general election. The special election is required because more than two years were left on Stucky’s term.

Blackjack Player Who Left Casino to Rob Bank Gets Prison

A drug-addicted gambler who left a West Virginia casino, robbed a bank, then returned to the blackjack table was sentenced Thursday to between five and 18 years in prison.

Kerry Johnson had been at the Mardi Gras Casino in Nitro for hours Aug. 2 when he put down a $25 chip to hold his spot. Prosecutors said Johnson then drove 13 miles to a Charleston bank and gave tellers a note saying he had a bomb and a weapon and robbed it of about $5,000.

Johnson then returned to the blackjack table and resumed gambling.

Police later found Johnson at his home asleep on a couch. Prosecutors said a large sum of cash was stuffed between couch cushions, and some taken during the robbery was recovered at the blackjack table.

Johnson had said he’d taken quite a few drugs on Aug. 2 and “most of the day was a blur” but recognized himself after seeing video from the bank.

While a public defender had sought home confinement, Kanawha County Circuit Judge Duke Bloom said Johnson needed to be punished for his “extraordinarily risky behavior.”

“We also need to send a message to the community that bank robberies are not acceptable,” Bloom said.

Friends described what Johnson did as bizarre and out of character. Johnson earned $300,000 to $400,000 a year as a car salesman and dealership consultant, and he said he made “so much money that it never ran out, and it just fueled my addictions.”

Johnson told the judge he had been using drugs for more than two decades and, although he had gone into rehabilitation once, his addictions continued and “the money has been lost in gambling.”

“I am no bank robber. I’m no thief. I’ve never stolen anything my entire life,” Johnson said. “I’m a bad drug addict. I’m an addicted gambler, and I’m asking for your help. I want to get better.”

Public defender John Sullivan sought to have Johnson serve his sentence at his mother’s home in another county a mere 100 yards from a state police post. Johnson said his worst fear was losing his aging mother while he was in prison.

Johnson, 52, who pleaded guilty in January to second-degree robbery, was given credit for seven months already served in jail.

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