Richmond, VA _ Richmond Circuit Court Judge Bradley Cavedo has recused himself from hearing a legal challenge to Governor Ralph Northam's plan to remove the Robert E. Lee statue from its pedestal on Monument Avenue.
Cavedo issued the order late Thursday stating "Upon further reflection on the issues in this case, I conclude that the location of my home in the vicinity of the Lee Monument area may create the appearance of bias among some Virginians. I was unaware at the outset of this case that I lived in the Monument Avenue Historic District."
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says the case has been reassigned to Judge W. Reilly Marchant and that his office is working on finding out whether avJuly 23rd hearing is still scheduled to hear the legal challenge from William Gregory, a descendant of two of the people who signed the land the monument sits on over to the state. That 1890 deed says the state is supposed to consider the monument and the area around it “perpetually sacred” and “faithfully guard it and affectionately protect it.”
It was Cavedo who issued the injunction preventing Northam from removing the monument until all legal challenges could be settled.