CHARLESTON, WV (AP)-A former West Virginia Supreme Court justice who was at the center of a 2018 impeachment scandal has been released from federal prison.
Loughry was released on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website.
Loughry was sentenced to two years in prison in February 2019 after being found guilty on charges including mail and wire fraud connected to his personal use of state cars and fuel cards.
A judge ordered him to serve three years probation after release. Loughry agreed to surrender his law license and not seek public office again.
Loughry and three other justices were impeached in 2018 over questions involving lavish office renovations that evolved into accusations of corruption and neglect of duty.
A temporary panel of justices ruled the impeachment efforts violated the separation of powers doctrine and that the Legislature lacked jurisdiction to pursue the trials. The process was officially derailed when the presiding judge didn’t show up to the Senate trial of one of the justices because of the decision.
Loughry, who wrote a 2006 book while he was a Supreme Court law clerk about the history of political corruption in the state, was removed as chief justice in February 2018 after the other justices learned that he had kept secret a federal subpoena that was previously served on the Supreme Court in December. Loughry was later suspended from the bench. He resigned in November 2018.
