State AG's office seeks another stay from W.Va. Supreme Court

Miller, Dickey and Lin want more time to review the voluminous file in the case of Joseph A. Buffey, 33, of Clarksburg. They’re trying to decide whether to appeal the West Virginia Supreme Court’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The justices previously granted the 30-day stay that expires on Friday.

The 14-day extension sought in Tuesday’s motion has been agreed upon by Buffey’s lawyers, according to the motion.

Dickey, Miller and Lin are “engaged in lengthy review of the legal issues and record in this case since this Court issued its stay of the mandate,” Tuesday’s filing asserted. “But an extension of the stay of the mandate is needed to complete review of the legal issues and the lengthy record, exceeding 9,000 pages, in this case. A 14-day stay is necessary to protect the interest of Respondent and ensure complete review.”

If an appeal is filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, Lin, Dickey and Miller will have to persuade the nation’s highest court that there’s a constitutional issue that needs to be resolved nationally.

In Buffey’s case, that might be the issue of whether potentially exculpatory evidence must be shared with defendants at the plea-bargaining stage of prosecutions.

Buffey’s November victory at the state Supreme Court turned on that issue, as the justices decided the state had DNA results that would have been favorable to Buffey’s defense prior to the acceptance of his guilty pleas, yet that information wasn’t shared with the defendant or his lawyer at that time.

The lawyers for Buffey previously acknowledged the issue might have enough merit for the case to be accepted to the U.S. Supreme Court’s docket, although that’s no sure thing.

But Buffey’s attorneys are confident that if that happens, the justices in Washington will uphold the unanimous ruling by West Virginia’s Supreme Court.

Buffey is serving a 70-year term for two counts of first-degree sexual assault and one count of first-degree robbery of an 83-year-old woman.

As it stands, his first chance to see the parole board would be Dec. 8, 2041.

Buffey went to prison after pleading guilty in 2002 to the crimes that occurred Nov. 30, 2001.

Allan Karlin of Morgantown and Barry Scheck and Nina Morrison of the Innocence Project, as well as Sarah Montoro, formerly with Karlin’s Morgantown law firm, have been the main lawyers seeking to overturn Buffey’s convictions.

Additional DNA work by those lawyers eventually pointed the finger at Adam Derek Bowers, 30, of Clarksburg, as the assailant.

Bowers was convicted at trial this year and has been sentenced to 70 years in prison, the same term that Buffey received from Harrison County Chief Circuit Judge Thomas A. Bedell back in May 2002.

If Morrisey’s office decides not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Buffey’s case would go back to Bedell, where the defendant would be allowed to withdraw his pleas to sexual assault and robbery.

The case then might be resolved by plea, trial or the state deciding to dismiss it.

If the matter does go to the U.S. Supreme Court, Buffey likely will remain imprisoned until the high court rules.

An attempt to contact Buffey’s lawyers was not immediately successful.