Charleston , Kanawha County , West Virginia

A replacement candidate for former Kanawha County Magistrate Carol Fouty has been chosen for the November election.

Fouty resigned from office and agreed to not run in the November election after admitting to violating the Judicial Code of Conduct for dropping a drug citation without a prosecutor present for a woman who later became her maid.

On Saturday, the Kanawha County Republican Executive Committee met to find a new candidate to take Fouty's spot on the ballot.

A few people hoping to be considered for Fouty's spot spoke to the party about what they would do as a magistrate for Kanawha County. But it only took the committee a few minutes to decide on John Jarman.

Jarman recently ran for the Assessors Office in Kanawha County. He served with the Baltimore City Police Department and says he feels strongly in sticking to ethics and accountability.

"You have to maintain integrity and a sense of ethics," he said. "You have to be fair across the board. If one person does one thing and someone else does the same violation, you have to hold them both accountable in the same fashion."

Chair of the Republican Executive Committee Tim Morris says this decision should bring faith back into the political process.

"We've got good candidates on the ballot, people who will uphold the law, and will move forward so when someone does go to magistrate court, they will know the process worked the way that it should," said Morris.

Jarman will face three other Republican Magistrate candidates and ten on the Democratic side.

The Investigation Commission cannot touch Fouty's pension and they cannot ban her from running in any election after November. But they have asked the Kanawha County Prosecutor to open a criminal investigation.
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The West Virginia Judicial Hearing Board recommended Monday that the state Supreme Court publicly censure former Kanawha County magistrate Carol Fouty and
asked the Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to conduct a criminal investigation.

In calling for stronger action against Fouty, the board said that it wants the prosecutor’s office to look into allegations she used a bond "facilitator" to serve as an unlicensed bail bondsmen.

Kanawha County Prosecutor Mark Plants said the investigation goes much deeper.

"The charge that you would look at is bribery," he said. "If she dismissed tickets for personal gain, that's a potential violation of criminal law."

Fouty’s case was presented to the Judicial Hearing Board during a hearing Aug. 8. On Monday, the board accepted her agreement to resign, but members were not pleased that she stepped down citing health reasons. Now, they are asking for more punishment for her behavior on the bench that has become the subject of a criminal investigation.

"If I’m guilty of something, they need to charge me," said Forty in an interview with Eyewitness News in March 2012, before the case against her started to take form.

Now, she is off the bench, has agreed not to run for office for at least four years, and has to pay up to the tune of more than $6,300, but the board says that is not enough.

Fouty, who served as a magistrate for 26 years, is accused of violating the judicial code of conduct, including an incident in which she allegedly dropped a drug citation without a prosecutor present for a woman who later became her maid.

As part of the deal, the other four ethics charges would be dropped and she would not run for re-election this November. In the board's response, it wrote that Fouty's failure to appear at her hearing, her failure to take responsibility, and her history of violating the code of judicial conduct are reasons for further discipline.

Both sides have 14 days to file any objections. The West Virginia Supreme Court gets the final say.

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