BREAKING
Richmond lawyer files state complaint against former judge in Lee statue case
BY JUSTIN MATTINGLY Richmond Times-Dispatch 22 min ago

A prominent Richmond lawyer has filed a complaint with the state commission that investigates charges of judicial misconduct against a judge who recused himself in the high-profile Confederate statue cases after issuing injunctions in the cases barring removal of statues.

Richmond Circuit Court Judge Bradley B. Cavedo granted two injunctions in a challenge to Virginia's plan to take down the city's Robert E. Lee statue and delivered an injunction in a case against Mayor Levar Stoney over the removal of city-owned Confederate statues. Cavedo, who lives in the Monument Avenue Historic District, recused himself last week from the cases, saying he was unaware that he lived in the historic district.

Now his conduct is the subject of a complaint with Virginia's Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission, a panel Cavedo once led. Attorney David Baugh, who filed the complaint, criticizes Cavedo, in part, for presiding over the statue cases despite his home's proximity to the monuments.

Baugh, who returned to private law practice in 2012 after stints as Central Virginia's capital defender and as a federal prosecutor, among other roles, filed the complaint with the commission on July 17, according to a copy of the filing obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Baugh, who is Black, previously represented a member of the Ku Klux Klan and an al-Qaida terrorist who, in 1998, bombed the U.S. embassy in Kenya, killing 213 people, among other clients.

"Due to this judge’s recent behavior, both on and off of the bench, there is a concern, the concern of all practitioners of the legal craft, for the perceptions of impropriety and the appearance of impropriety on the part of the judiciary by this judge," Baugh writes in the complaint.

He adds: "This proximity of his residence to the monuments raises concerns about his impartiality."

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jmattingly@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6012

Twitter: @jmattingly306​

Justin Mattingly covers Virginia politics and policy. He previously covered education. A northern New York native and Syracuse University alumnus, he's worked at the RTD since 2017. You can follow him on Twitter at @jmattingly306.