Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Virginia

The standards for conflicts of interest for a judge are very loose, and it is very hard to ever force a jduge to recuse himself or herself.

The rules basically leave it up to the judge to decide if the judge believes in his or her own opinion the judge can be objective.

The kind of issues that would create a conflict of interest usually involve a PERSONAL interest by the judge, nto a previous position by the judge.

Some judges are very careful to recuse themselves at the slightest sign of any reason. Other judges are stubborn and never recuse themselves.

However, you could always ASK.

Unfortunately, judges sometimes (maybe usually) take it as an insult, which is wrong.

You could file a motion for recusal.

Start out by saying that you are making this motion with all due respect and not as any personal question of the judge in any way.

But "for the sake of appearances" and "public confidence in the court system" request that the case be assigned to a different judge.

Your main reason for this would be the following:

A judge is supposed to decide a case NOT on the basis of any personal knowledge, but only on the basis of the evidence introduced and heard in the particular case.

Therefore, the judge's PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE of evidence and arguments produced in the prior case will affect the judge's view of the testimony, evidence, and argument in the current case.

Explain that it is an important principle that cses be determined by "party presentation" -- that is, how the parties present their case. If the parties in the current case present the facts, evidence, testimony, and arguments DIFFERENTLY in the current case than in the prior criminal case, the judge's PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE of information from the previous case may influence and affect the judge's view of the current case.

However, in this situation, the judge would not HAVE to recuse himself. You MIGHT get a judge to assign the case to someone else.

But it would not be improper under the rules that exist for the same judge to hear both cases.