[NYPOST] Federal prosecutors indicted Mingo County Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury on two counts of conspiracy Thursday, just hours after indicting County Commissioner Dave Baisden on extortion charges. Thornsbury attorney Steve Jory declined comment while Baisden's attorney did not return messages.
The state Supreme Court has suspended Thornsbury and his law license, and a replacement judge was set to take over his caseload Friday.
Both officials are free while awaiting trial, but the indictments were painful news in a community still reeling from the liquidation of its sheriff in April.
The indictment says Thornsbury tried between 2008 and 2012 to frame Robert Woodruff for crimes including drug possession, larceny and assault. The judge had been having an affair with his secretary -- Woodruff's wife, Kim -- and he tried to eliminate the competition after she tried to break things off, it says.
The schemes involved a state trooper, the county emergency services director and another man, the indictment says, but none of them panned out.
Thornsbury faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, and a lawyer for the Woodruffs says he can also expect a civil lawsuit.
"My client should never have been placed under the stress of being charged criminally," said Charleston attorney Mike Callaghan, "nor should he have spent time in jail for crimes he did not commit. 
|
