CHARLESTON – The assistant prosecuting attorney for Pleasants County under ongoing federal investigation for his part in an alleged scheme to extract donations from defendants for a now-defunct Christmas gift program will continue to have his law license suspended.

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday afternoon in a case brought by the state Office of Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel against M. Paul Marteney. The state’s high court will consider whether a rule to show cause in contempt should be awarded to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) against Marteney.

The state Supreme Court issued an order last September suspending the law license of Marteney for 90 days, ending Dec. 11, 2023. Marteney also was ordered to refund a $200 filing fee to Jinjer Nutter and pay the costs associated with the disciplinary proceedings.

While a 90-day law license suspension typically calls for automatic reinstatement, ODC Chief Lawyer Rachael Cipoletti said the Rules of Lawyer Disciplinary Procedure requires attorneys to comply with all requirements of orders issued by the Lawyer Disciplinary Board, including Rule 3.28 of the Rules of Lawyer Disciplinary Procedure.

Rule 3.28 requires disbarred or suspended attorneys to notify all clients and advise them to seek legal advice elsewhere, inform clients with pending cases before courts to substitute a new lawyer for the suspended/disbarred attorney or to withdraw as counsel, and file affidavits with the ODC confirming that they complied with the rule. Cipoletti said that Marteney has not filed his affidavit to date.

“I represent to this court that he has complied with all other aspects of the order. On February 24th he did issue a check to Ms. Nutter in the amount of $200, and that is the last bit he has done,” Cipoletti said. “We sent him a letter in October of 2023 reminding him of his requirements under his order to comply with the affidavit. He did not respond or otherwise comply with the order.”

Cipoletti said her office informed the state bar that Marteney was still not in compliance as of the end of December 2023, meaning the suspension of his law licenses remains in effect and he will now have to petition for his law license to be reinstated once he complies with the ODC order. Marteney declined to respond.

“I’ve been informed by the clerk that Mr. Marteney does not wish to address the court unless there are any questions by my colleagues,” said Chief Justice Tim Armstead.

The order resulted from a Nov. 1, 2022, statement of charges filed against Marteney by the ODC, a state agency that investigates alleged wrongdoing of licensed attorneys in West Virginia.

The ODC charged Marteney with multiple counts of violating the state Rules of Professional Conduct for failing to handle Nutter’s case competently and timely, failing to reduce his contingency fee agreement or provide the agreement in writing to Nutter, failing to keep Nutter informed about her case, using his public office as assistant prosecutor and his staff for private matters, and failing to respond to the ODC.

According to the statement of charges, Nutter filed an ethics complaint Dec. 15, 2021, against Marteney, alleging that Marteney refused to refund a $200 filing fee after Marteney dropped the ball on a civil lawsuit for a traffic accident Nutter had contracted with Marteney to represent her on. After the filing of the suit, Nutter was unable to make contact with Marteney.

The case was dismissed in August 2020 after inactivity by Marteney, who also failed to respond to multiple requests from the ODC. After being charged by the ODC, Marteney provided an answer to the charges, admitting to some of the charges, but denying he intentionally tried to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Marteney stopped serving as assistant prosecuting attorney once his law license was suspended. Marteney and Pleasants County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Carr remain under state and federal investigation for their role in the “Slow Down for the Holidays” program that began in 2008 when Carr was a municipal judge for the City of St. Marys.

The Slow Down program would dismiss minor traffic infractions in the months prior to Christmas each year in exchange for donations of $50 gift cards or the equivalent of $50 in toys. The Pleasants County Prosecuting Attorney’s office and the Pleasants County Sheriff’s Department became involved in the program in 2018 after Carr took office, when the two began to dismiss certain misdemeanor charges, such as driving under the influence, in exchange for the donation of gift cards and sometimes cash to the Slow Down program.

State investigators said Carr and Marteney’s selection of only a few misdemeanor cases in exchange for monetary donations constituted a “bribe.” Carr alone is accused of 178 violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct in 21 separate counts. Both were charged in 2021 by the Investigative Panel of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board with multiple violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct. The cases remain paused due to a federal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the North District of West Virginia.

An investigation in 2021 by the Judicial Investigation Commission resulted in the resignations of the county’s two magistrates for their role in the Slow Down program. The Investigative Panel of the Lawyer Disciplinary Board also found that the City of St. Marys did not keep track of funds to the Slow Down program, nor did it track how donations to the program were spent.

The federal investigation into the Slow Down program has resulted in one guilty plea. Carolyn Taylor, a former St. Marys Police Department clerk, pleaded guilty to perjury last year for lying to federal investigators about taking gift cards from the Slow Down program for personal use. Several defense attorneys are facing lawyer disciplinary charges for accepting plea deals in exchange for donation to Slow Down.