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Ex-W.Va. Justice Sentenced in Corruption Scandal
By: Associated Press
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Menis Ketchum has been sentenced to three years’ probation for using a state vehicle and gas fuel card for a 2014 golf trip to Virginia.
Ketchum was also fined $20,000 and ordered to pay $749 in restitution Wednesday in federal court in Charleston for his guilty plea last year to a felony fraud count.
The sentencing comes at the end of a yearlong scandal involving the Supreme Court that resulted in significant changes to the state’s judicial system.
Ketchum retired before the House of Delegates impeached other justices over questions involving lavish office renovations that evolved into accusations of corruption, incompetence and neglect of duty.
A temporary panel of justices later ruled the impeachment efforts violated the separation-of-powers doctrine and that the Legislature lacked jurisdiction to pursue the trials.
The Supreme Court annulled Ketchum’s law license in October.