WHEELING - The Republican candidate for Ohio County prosecutor no longer has a law license, but his name will still be on the Nov. 4 ballot.
In a ruling released Friday, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals voted 5-0 to annul the license of Wheeling attorney Mark Blevins.
Rachel Fletcher-Cippoletti, the attorney for the state's Lawyer Disciplinary Board, said annulment is the "the most severe sanction" the court can hand down on an attorney, and is the same as disbarment.
Blevins, however, can work to regain his license, she noted, and said measures for this are spelled out in state code.
The court also set forth the following in its ruling:
In complaints filed with the state Lawyer Disciplinary Board, Blevins was accused of soliciting a felon to collect money owed to him by contractors and later asking the felon to get him a "throw away" gun.
Richard Hollandsworth, the attorney representing Blevins in the proceedings before the state Supreme Court this week, did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
"Personally, I feel very sorry for him," said Martin Sheehan, Wheeling attorney and chairman of the Ohio County Republican Party. "I really do."
Blevins' name still will be on the general election ballot, according to Toni Chieffalo, Ohio County coordinator of elections.
If he were to win the prosecutor's post, a challenge would have to be filed to preclude him from serving. These facts were confirmed by Sarah Bailey, spokeswoman for the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office.
West Virginia Code does not specifically require a county prosecutor to have a law license, but it does spell out the duties for which the prosecutor is responsible, she noted.
"It would be impossible for the prosecutor to carry out some of these duties if his law license were suspended," Bailey said.
The state Supreme Court has ruled in past decisions that a county prosecutor does need a law license to do the job, according to Bailey. The court asked Hollandsworth this week about Blevins' being a political candidate.
He told the court Blevins was, in fact, a candidate, but that health issues were keeping him from actively campaigning.
Blevins is facing Democrat and incumbent Ohio County Prosecutor Scott Smith in the Nov. 4 election.