Elgine McArdle
FAIRMONT — A Wheeling attorney and a former city council member, who were both involved in the Marion County murder prosecution of alleged Pagan Motorcycle Club leader Ryan Lane, were arrested Tuesday on new charges of witness intimidation.
Elgine McArdle, a Wheeling lawyer who represented Lane in his 2022 murder trial for the killing of Henry Silver, and Lowell “L.J.” Maxey, a former Bridgeport city councilman who had been assisting McArdle, were taken into custody by West Virginia State Police amid allegations they sought to improperly influence potential witnesses in the case, WAJR reports.
McArdle’s involvement in the murder case had already sparked separate charges of violating child-confidentiality laws after she allegedly disclosed the identity and interview of a minor witness in filings and unencrypted emails filed during the trial’s proceedings.
Prosecutors argue McArdle violated protective orders sealing those records, leading to 13 misdemeanor counts related to the confidentiality of recorded interviews involving a child, Legal Newsline previously reported.
Maxey was previously charged with working as a private investigator without a license while participating in Lane’s defense, which he disputes.
Court filings from his attorneys characterize the prosecution’s actions as efforts to “intimidate and defame” him, asserting that he was formally engaged as an expert and that Marion County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Sean Murphy was aware of his involvement.
Lane’s original murder trial in September ended in a hung jury and mistrial.
In a plea deal reached in November, Lane pleaded no contest to a single count of felony organized criminal enterprise in connection with Silver’s killing, with prosecutors agreeing to dismiss more serious murder and conspiracy charges, according to WDTV.
Sentencing for that charge could expose him to up to 10 years in prison, though his lawyer indicated he may be eligible for parole given time he’s already served.
Lane was released back to home confinement after entering the plea, but a pending retrial was previously scheduled before the plea resolved that issue.
Before the plea proceedings, a motion to dismiss all charges against Lane was denied in circuit court and retrial dates were set, but only to be affected by the new prosecutorial actions against McArdle and Maxey.
In addition to the witness intimidation allegations, McArdle’s child privacy violations stem from filings and communications in which she identified the minor by name and disclosed details that were subject to a protective order, including the child’s address and video interview, the Wheeling Intelligencer reported.
Those actions reportedly contravened orders from circuit court judges intended to keep such sensitive testimony confidential, according to the Intelligencer.
McArdle’s defense attorney has publicly criticized the charges, raising questions about prosecutorial conduct and timing, according to the Wheeling Intelligencer.
He maintains that elements of the contested materials were already part of the public record or subject to routine adversarial litigation and that McArdle’s efforts were part of zealous representation rather than misconduct.
Maxey’s attorneys also argue that his work in the case does not meet the statutory definition requiring a private-investigator license, according to court motions filed in November, Legal Newsline previously reported.
