| The Calhoun Circuit Court has ordered the Calhoun Deputy Sheriff's Civil Service Board to hold a hearing regarding a request by former deputy sheriff Ron Bandy.
The request is being made by Bandy's attorney, John R. Teare, Jr.
Bandy is requesting reimbursement of $32,000 attorney fees related to a multi-count case filed against him by the West Virginia State Police, charging him with taking items from an elderly Calhoun couple's house after they had been placed in a nursing home.
The criminal case against Bandy was dismissed in November, 2007, by Judge Thomas Evans III, after special prosecutor Gerry Hough said there was insufficient evidence to indicate a crime had been committed, and that the state could not prove criminal intent.
The Calhoun Commission denied the payment of attorney fees last year.
Problems have surfaced with the Deputy Sheriff's Civil Service Board, with board member Loren Howley being involved in Bandy's legal case as a witness.
Prosecutor Shelly DeMarino says Howley is "conflicted out of hearing the matter."
Further clouding the issue, there is only one other member now serving on the board beside Howley, making a quorum void.
The Calhoun Commission, following numerous efforts, has been unable to find a person to volunteer for service on the board. That person must be a member of the Republican party.
Prosecutor DeMarino says the matter may have to be directly taken to the circuit court.
The civil service board has up to 45 days to respond to Bandy's request.
In addition to being charged for missing items from the elderly couples house, Bandy faced an earlier problem for failing to appear in court.
Bandy resigned from his position in 2006 after prosecutor Matt Minney said he had failed to appear in court in a timely manner in Calhoun criminal cases.
Bandy was then late for a hearing before Judge David Nibert related to the matter.
That hearing was to allow Bandy to show cause why he had not appeared in court hearings to which he had been subpoenaed.
Minney said "It is basically a contempt of court issue."
Minney, at the time, said he was issuing a capias warrant to compel Bandy's appearance.
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