CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The state Supreme Court determined on Thursday that further investigation is warranted in a case involving Kanawha Circuit Judge Carrie Webster and the Kanawha Circuit Clerk's Office.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The state Supreme Court determined on Thursday that further investigation is warranted in a case involving Kanawha Circuit Judge Carrie Webster and the Kanawha Circuit Clerk's Office.
According to an order signed by Chief Justice Brent Benjamin, the court will investigate the handling of Webster's docket and the procedures of both Webster's office and the Circuit Clerk's Office.
Last month, Webster dismissed multiple cases she thought were inactive and clogging her docket.
At least one of the dismissals affected a case that let Jeremy Carter, a man who tried to kidnap a toddler he did not know from her mother in broad daylight, out of South Central Regional Jail. South Charleston Police re-arrested Carter Monday evening. He said that he suffers daily bouts of sometimes-aggressive psychosis, according to court filings.
Webster has said that in Carter's case, she was attempting to dismiss an irrelevant motion for a psychiatric evaluation, but inadvertently issued a blanket order that dropped the entire case. On Sunday, she issued a news release that pinned the error on the county circuit clerk staffer that issued Carter's jail release form, which she said she did not authorize.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court entered an order that began an "official inquiry" into the case.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The state Supreme Court determined on Thursday that further investigation is warranted in a case involving Kanawha Circuit Judge Carrie Webster and the Kanawha Circuit Clerk's Office.
According to an order signed by Chief Justice Brent Benjamin, the court will investigate the handling of Webster's docket and the procedures of both Webster's office and the Circuit Clerk's Office.
Last month, Webster dismissed multiple cases she thought were inactive and clogging her docket.
At least one of the dismissals affected a case that let Jeremy Carter, a man who tried to kidnap a toddler he did not know from her mother in broad daylight, out of South Central Regional Jail. South Charleston Police re-arrested Carter Monday evening. He said that he suffers daily bouts of sometimes-aggressive psychosis, according to court filings.
Webster has said that in Carter's case, she was attempting to dismiss an irrelevant motion for a psychiatric evaluation, but inadvertently issued a blanket order that dropped the entire case. On Sunday, she issued a news release that pinned the error on the county circuit clerk staffer that issued Carter's jail release form, which she said she did not authorize.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court entered an order that began an "official inquiry" into the case.
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