CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A former Lincoln County assessor who pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to buy votes will not receive his public employees' pension after the West Virginia Supreme Court denied his appeal Friday.

Jerry Allen Weaver appealed the state Consolidated Public Retirement Board's decision to revoke his pension for rendering "less than honorable service." Kanawha Circuit Judge Jim Stucky upheld that decision last year.

Weaver plead-ed guilty in federal court in 2005, and was sentenced to a year in prison. He was released in June 2007, and was hired to work as a mapper and property assessor in his former office earlier this year.

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Jerry Allen Weaver

"To the extent the activities of the alleged vote-buying conspiracy tainted those elections, in any way, shape, or form, Mr. Weaver's participation therein unquestionably was related to his re-election as Lincoln County Assessor, and, thus, his felonious conviction was related to his office," the opinion states.

Weaver, who served as assessor for 25 years and retired in January 2006 with 27 1/2 years of public service, argued that his conviction was not related to his duties as assessor, and that he faithfully carried out the obligations of his office and deserved his pension.

In his appeal, Weaver pointed to the fact that federal prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to link his conduct in office to the vote-buying scandal in order to increase his prison sentence, but could not.

"Mr. Weaver's only role in the alleged conspiracy was as a conduit of funds destined for vote-buying by receiving the funds and then delivering the funds to others for distribution," the appeal reads. "There has simply been no evidence presented that Mr. Weaver gained any advantage in securing his office as a result of his participation in an alleged vote-buying conspiracy."

In some of the elections, Weaver ran unopposed, and was therefore not trying to gain an unfair advantage, the brief maintains.

The court seemed to reject this argument soundly.

"With the numerous years of experience Mr. Weaver had as the elected Assessor of Lincoln County, it is unfathomable that he could completely separate himself from and entirely ignore the information as to the inner workings of Lincoln County politics he had gained in this capacity while he pursued his criminal activity," the opinion states.

"Though Mr. Weaver claims that he acted as a private citizen when he participated in the vote-buying conspiracy, it is an unfortunate coincidence of timing that his criminal activity coincided with his time in office. Public officers are held to a high standard of public trust, and if they have been found to have violated the public trust, they risk the resultant forfeiture of their publicly-funded pension benefits."

Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 348-1723.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A former Lincoln County assessor who pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to buy votes will not receive his public employees' pension after the West Virginia Supreme Court denied his appeal Friday.

Jerry Allen Weaver appealed the state Consolidated Public Retirement Board's decision to revoke his pension for rendering "less than honorable service." Kanawha Circuit Judge Jim Stucky upheld that decision last year.

Weaver plead-ed guilty in federal court in 2005, and was sentenced to a year in prison. He was released in June 2007, and was hired to work as a mapper and property assessor in his former office earlier this year.

In the written opinion, Justice Robin Davis noted that Weaver was a candidate for public office in four of the eight elections in which he had admitted tampering as part of the federal probe.

"To the extent the activities of the alleged vote-buying conspiracy tainted those elections, in any way, shape, or form, Mr. Weaver's participation therein unquestionably was related to his re-election as Lincoln County Assessor, and, thus, his felonious conviction was related to his office," the opinion states.

Weaver, who served as assessor for 25 years and retired in January 2006 with 27 1/2 years of public service, argued that his conviction was not related to his duties as assessor, and that he faithfully carried out the obligations of his office and deserved his pension.

In his appeal, Weaver pointed to the fact that federal prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to link his conduct in office to the vote-buying scandal in order to increase his prison sentence, but could not.

"Mr. Weaver's only role in the alleged conspiracy was as a conduit of funds destined for vote-buying by receiving the funds and then delivering the funds to others for distribution," the appeal reads. "There has simply been no evidence presented that Mr. Weaver gained any advantage in securing his office as a result of his participation in an alleged vote-buying conspiracy."

In some of the elections, Weaver ran unopposed, and was therefore not trying to gain an unfair advantage, the brief maintains.

The court seemed to reject this argument soundly.

"With the numerous years of experience Mr. Weaver had as the elected Assessor of Lincoln County, it is unfathomable that he could completely separate himself from and entirely ignore the information as to the inner workings of Lincoln County politics he had gained in this capacity while he pursued his criminal activity," the opinion states.

"Though Mr. Weaver claims that he acted as a private citizen when he participated in the vote-buying conspiracy, it is an unfortunate coincidence of timing that his criminal activity coincided with his time in office. Public officers are held to a high standard of public trust, and if they have been found to have violated the public trust, they risk the resultant forfeiture of their publicly-funded pension benefits."

Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 348-1723.