Category Archives: Elections

Lawsuit filed against Senator Ojeda

Posted on by
3

UPDATE: 8/24/18:  We are still waiting on a ruling from the Court on the pending motion to dismiss.

Sen. Ojeda’s Motion to Dismiss

David Woolsey’s Response to Motion to Dismiss

 

You might have read about this case in the news, as did I, this past week:

Logan Man Fired After Posting Video of Ojeda

Fortunately I was subsequently hired by David Woolsey, the man who lost his job, to get involved.  I worked quickly to draft and file a federal lawsuit on behalf of David Woolsey and against West Virginia Senate member, and congressional candidate, Richard Ojeda.

Here is the video that started it all.

 

 

Here is the response video posted by Sen. Ojeda later that night, and then subsequently deleted:

 

 

The Complaint alleges retaliation by a public official against a private citizen’s First Amendment political expression.

Here is a copy of the Complaint which was filed yesterday:

David Woolsey v. Richard Ojeda, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Civil Action No. 2:18-cv-00745

Media Reports:

My radio interview with The Tom Roten Morning Show

Charleston Gazette-Mail

WV Record.

WOWK TV

Herald-Dispatch

Search and Seizure Case From Berkeley County In The News

Posted on by
1

Last week we filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of John W. Orem and his wife.  The Complaint alleges three civil rights violations: an illegal search, an illegal arrest, and an illegal violation of the right to privacy.

Former Berkeley County sheriff candidate sues state police

Former Berkeley Co. sheriff candidate sues police over drug arrest

Former Berkeley County Sheriff candidate files civil lawsuit against police

In the lawsuit, John Orem and his wife, Sher Orem, claim Trooper Matthew D. Gillmore, on Aug. 2, 2016, conducted an unreasonable search and seizure at their home in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The civil suit requests the court to award damages against the defendants in an amount to be determined at a trial by jury for past, present and future medical expenses; past, present and future pain and suffering; loss of enjoyment of life; psychological and emotional distress; reasonable attorney fees and costs, as well as other compensatory and punitive damages.

John Orem told The Journal Tuesday that he did not want this to go this way.

“I made a complaint with (West Virginia State Police) and tried to get them to handle the issue within their department,” Orem said in an emailed statement. “Then after a year and never sending anyone out to look into the issue or speak to anyone, they said they see nothing wrong.

“So although all officers are human and make mistakes, I believe that we need to trust our law enforcement to self-police and correct errors. If they can’t do that, they force us to sue. Since the (West Virginia State Police) have immunity to civil suits, this is the only way to have them correct issues and help them to provide a better service to our community.”

Copy of the Complaint

This is the photo which was uploaded to social media, while Mr. Orem was still sitting handcuffed inside the Martinsburg state police detachment.  We allege this was taken and uploaded by employees of the West Virginia State Police in order to destroy Mr. Orem’s reputation and political campaign.

IMG_5936 (002)

The strategy worked well.  The arrest quickly made national headlines.

A few examples:

Sheriff’s candidate in West Virginia charged in heroin case – CBS News

Candidate For Sheriff In West Virginia Charged With Heroin Possession Authorities said they found John Orem unresponsive in his home. – Huffington Post

Mr. Orem was kept sitting on the bench for several hours prior to his arraignment – even though a magistrate was available to arraign him.  The Complaint alleges the delay was due to the fact that the State Police contacted the media, in order to be sure they were waiting with cameras to catch Mr. Orem being perp-walked into the courthouse, with the arresting officer proudly displaying his catch.  Here is a photo of the next morning’s newspaper:

57a0ccb5211b6-image

After both the prosecutor and the defense attorneys agreed that the arresting officer had performed an illegal search, and asked the court to dismiss the charge against Mr. Orem, this arresting officer wrote a letter to the court objecting to the dismissal.  The court ignored the letter and dismissed the charge.

The “Kramer Rule” to affect West Virginia jury trials?

Posted on by
Reply

There was a story that I saw yesterday in the Register-Herald titled “Berkeley delegate wants judges’ donations disclosed in trials.”  Apparently, as per a bill introduced by Delegate Jonathan Miller, “[b]efore the first shred of evidence is put before a jury, members would know how much — if anything — opposing attorneys dumped into the presiding judge’s campaign chest.”

What I want to get is disclosing contributions to sitting judges from attorneys, first and foremost,” Miller, R-Berkeley, said Monday. “They are very involved in these lower races, circuit judges and family court. And I want disclosure to be compelled.”

Miller is labeling his proposal the “Jim Kramer Rule,” named after the investment guru, who, under Securities Exchange Commission rules, must disclose his personal holdings before pitching any stock.

The proposed legislation purportedly would not apply to criminal cases – not that it would be constitutional anyways….  This legislation begs the question: what in the heck is the point of doing this?  The reason that we have a jury in civil trials in West Virginia, is to decide contested issues of fact.  Of course the lawyers always believe that the trial judge favors and/or helps one side or the other somewhat during the trial.  But from the point of view of the jury, the judge is supposed to be neutral, and is only assisting them in doing their job.  In fact, the judge will instruct them not to try and speculate as to what he thinks about the case.  To instruct the jury from the beginning on which lawyer contributed campaign donations would confuse the jury from the start, and would possibly cause prejudice to an innocent party.  The lawyer is only representing the client.  Now if the client has some sort of improper connection with the judge, that could be different, in which case there already exists a procedure for the recusal of a judge if there exists a conflict.

Regardless, there’s no way this legislation, if passed, would get through the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals – all of whom are judges who arrived where they are, in part, through campaign contributions.

 – John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney.

This blog quoted in yet another newspaper…

Posted on by
Reply

Just by chance, I glanced at Summers County’s the Hinton News, which I receive via mail once a week, and saw a rather long letter to the editor, attacking one candidate for Sheriff and promoting another. That’s not too unusual this time of year, but I noticed the last paragraph contained a quote from myself, as posted here back in February.

I would just like to note that I was making a broader point about small West Virginia counties and the elected position of Sheriff generally with regards to experience and origin, and I was not, nor currently am, supporting any particular candidate. Although I was saying something favorable towards this particular candidate, I was not contrasting this with the current opposition candidate, because at the time there were numerous other candidates running for the party nomination.

Of course, I don’t know that either candidate really wants the support of a criminal defense attorney anyways….

– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney

Breaking News: candidates for Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Want to Reduce Dismissals

Posted on by
Reply

This breaking news was reported in the Charleston Daily Mail today. Reportedly, both candidates for Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney want to reduce the number of dismissals in their county due to West Virginia’s one-year-out-from-indictment-and-the-case-is-dismissed rule. As they say, shoot for the stars….

Geez, I’ve got to start taking more cases in Kanawha County.

There are lots of excuses for this, such as too many cases and too little funding. However, as Rudyard Kipling said, “there are forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.” Having worked as a prosecutor in an office that had a caseload that was many times larger than Kanawha County’s, I can’t remember one case ever getting dismissed based solely on neglect. Heck, we sometimes went through a thousand cases a day. I guess that if you wanted to set up a system that couldn’t manage the caseload, you could do it. And apparently Kanawha County has done it. The tough part is making it work. But that should be the status quo, not some great achievement.

– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney

Monroe County Prosecutor Resigns, Successor To Be Appointed

Posted on by
Reply

From the Register-Herald today:

Monroe County prosecutor Rod Mohler has resigned in order to take a position as an assistant prosecutor in Greenbrier County. When that happens, it is up to the county commission to appoint a successor. It looks like the prosecutor-elect, Justin St. Clair, will be appointed by the Monroe County Commission at a special meeting today.

Justin is a very capable attorney and I’m sure will serve Monroe County with the utmost integrity and effort.

You can read the full article here.

– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney.

Some Surprising Results in Greenbrier, Monroe County and Summers County Primary Elections

Posted on by
Reply

In Greenbrier County:

For Prosecuting Attorney, incumbent Kevin Hanson lost big, and at the top of the Democratic ticket for the general election will be Martha Fleshman, who was a complete dark horse in the race. According to the Register-Herald article linked below, she spent only about $1,400 on the race — not including the $992 filing fee. She will face fellow attorney Pat Via, who by the way is an all-around good guy.

For Circuit Judge, incumbent Judge Pomponio emerged victorious over Lewisburg attorney Steve Hunter. He will face Lewisburg attorney (and State Senator) Jesse Guills in the general election.

See the Greenbrier County results here.

UPDATE: The Register-Herald published an article Thursday regarding the county prosecutor race in Greenbrier County, which you can read here.

In Monroe County:

For Prosecuting Attorney, incumbent H. Rod Mohler also lost big – to challenger Justin St. Clair who is a Monroe County Attorney and also an all-around good guy. This was a big race because Rod Mohler had been Prosecuting Attorney for 12 years, and he is also a really nice guy with a lot of support. Justin had been positioning himself to run for the last four years and his hard work paid off.

For Circuit Judge:

Judge Robert Irons narrowly won by about 200 votes. This was a difficult race because it pitted Monroe County voters against Summers County voters, each voting a majority for their resident candidate. I believe the voters made a wise decision as Judge Irons has served the 31st judicial circuit well since he has held office.

See the Monroe County results here.

In Summers County:

For Prosecuting Attorney, incumbent Amy L. Mann, pulled out a major victory over challenger Jason Parmer, grabbing 2,277 votes over Parmer’s 1,280. This race had gotten nasty in the final weeks leading up to the election, and apparently that didn’t play well with the voters of Summers County. In my opinion, the most important quality of a good prosecutor is sympathy and compassion. Not all persons charged with a crime deserve life in prison. Most are generally good people, and most will be back out on the streets before long. A prosecutor who will treat defendants as they themselves would want to be treated, can clean-up the streets much faster than a “lock-em-up-throw-away-the-key” prosecutor. Amy is a compassionate person, and she uses her discretion wisely. But she also knows when to fire both barrels – trust me.

See the Summers County results here.

– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney.

Braxton County Magistrate Convicted After Jury Trial

Posted on by
Reply

From the Charleston Gazette:

A jury found a Braxton County magistrate who is up for re-election next week guilty of attempted retaliation against a state witness Wednesday.

Prosecutors charged Carolyn Cruickshanks with conspiring to retaliate against Philip Dailey, who testified against her son, Jordan Grubb, in a drug case.

Cruickshanks reportedly delivered a copy of Philip Dailey’s plea agreement and a transcript of his plea hearing to the jail, where Grubb hoped other inmates would punish Dailey for being a snitch.

It always amazes me that these small-town political conspiracies involving corrupt public officials actually take place in West Virginia. Then, the corrupt official still runs for office as they are on trial…. Unbelievable.

Read the full two-page article here.

– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney.

Nicholas County Prosecuting Attorney Charged With DUI

Posted on by
1

11411F47-9DD5-46BD-B200-F1192E93A6EB.jpg

From the Charleston Gazette today:

Nicholas County’s prosecuting attorney was charged with DUI on Sunday after wrecking his car in a single vehicle accident in Webster County. Mark Hudnall was elected Nicholas County prosecutor in 2004 by a narrow margin over James “P.K.” Milam. He is running for re-election this year, and faces Milam and Keith W. McMillion in the Democratic primary next month.

What a poor decision to make generally, but on the eve of an election? Being the elected prosecutor of a county, and charged with the duty to prosecute individuals for violations of the law, including DUI, he ought to make a public comment in the next day or so – either apologizing or proclaiming his absolute innocence (in which case it better be the truth). In any event, what a lucky break for his Democratic opponent.

Read the full article here.

– John H. Bryan, West Virginia Attorney.

Irons Seeks Third Term as Circuit Judge

Posted on by
Reply

From the Beckley Register-Herald:

Note: As an attorney who has often practiced before Judge Irons, I can vouch that he is a fair and impartial judge and deserves the support of both Monroe and Summers Counties.

Irons seeks third term as circuit judge

Judge Robert A. Irons is seeking a third term as circuit judge for Summers and Monroe counties.

A 16-year veteran of the bench, Irons was elected as the first judge of the 31st Circuit in 1992 and re-elected in 2000. Prior to becoming circuit judge, he practiced law for 12 years, serving a broad range of clients and types of cases, and also served as prosecuting attorney for eight years.

“I deeply appreciate the trust the people of Summers and Monroe counties have shown in me,” Irons said. “It has been an honor to serve as circuit judge and I have done my utmost to be worthy of that trust. For the past 16 years, I have made every effort to be approachable and responsive to all residents of the 31st Circuit, and to treat everyone who comes into the courtroom in a fair and impartial manner. It is gratifying and humbling that so many people have come forward in recent weeks to offer their support in the upcoming primary.”

Irons is a graduate of Union High School and Marshall University, and received his law degree from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. He has attended many specialized judicial training courses at the National Judicial College, and has completed several hundred hours of continuing judicial education through programs conducted by the state Supreme Court.

Irons is currently working with the Summers County Commission to establish a community corrections program as an alternative to incarceration. He said he is excited about this program, which he hopes will both help reduce jail costs and be a productive way to help individuals recover from substance addictions. He hopes to begin a similar program in Monroe County in the near future.

A Monroe County native and lifelong Democrat, Irons is a member of the Hinton Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow. He is also secretary of the Bluegrass Ruritan Club and lieutenant zone governor for Ruritan Zone 1. He has been active in Bluegrass Ruritan (of which his father was a founding member) since 1980, serving as an officer on several occasions, including two terms as club president, and was 2007 zone governor for Ruritan Zone 1.