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BASTRESS FILES FOR SUPREME COURT SEAT - Justice Starcher Calls For Investigation |
| (01/24/2008) |
| A well-known West Virginia University law professor is pledging to restore integrity to the state Supreme Court. Robert Bastress has filed for one of two openings on the court, pointing to a furor that has caused Chief Justice Spike Maynard to remove himself from a major case involving Massey Energy. Bastress says public confidence in the courts is at a low ebb, with good reason. Recently released photos show Maynard spending time in Monaco with Massey Energy executive Don Blankenship at a time when Massey was preparing a major $76 million appeal to the court that it later won. Ten of the photos have been sealed for the appeal. Bastress called that appearance of continued impropriety as a big problem. A law professor at WVU for 30 years, Bastress promised to bring intellectual rigor to the state's highest court. Meanwhile, state Supreme Court Justice Larry Starcher is calling for an investigation into Maynard's relationship with Massey Energy Chief Don Blankenship. Starcher says the court's reputation is at stake. In a memo, Starcher says the disclosure that Maynard and Blankenship vacationed together in 2006 raises serious legal and ethical issues. Maynard was part of the majority who voted last November to overturn the judgment. The justice ruled in favor of Massey Energy in the last eight cases before the high court. Starcher's memo to the court's administrator says he is prepared to assist investigators by giving them information he was given last year. Justice Brent Benjamin, whose campaign received about a $3 million boost from Don Blankenship, has declined to recuse himself from the case.
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