RICHMOND — Three Lynchburg- and Bedford-area judgeships could be filled by the General Assembly this year.
Two judges from General District courts are bidding for the 24th Judicial Circuit Court judgeship from which Judge Leyburn Mosby plans to retire in Campbell County.
General District Judges R. Edwin Burnett, of Lynchburg, and Patrick Yeatts, of Campbell County, submitted resumes asking to be considered for Mosby’s seat, said Ron Henderson, president of the Lynchburg Bar Association.
The association’s membership evaluated the two and rated Burnett as “highly qualified” and Yeatts as “qualified,” Henderson said.
Burnett and Yeatts will be interviewed by House and Senate committees, which will recommend one of them for election by the General Assembly.
The vacancy that would then occur in the 24th Circuit’s General District Court could be filled before the General Assembly adjourns March 13, Henderson said.
The bar association plans to ask for resumes from candidates who are interested in being a General District judge, Henderson said.
The Bedford-area judgeship pending before the assembly involves Louis Harrison, who is serving as judge of Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court under an interim appointment issued last year.
The Assembly failed to approve Harrison for the judgeship last year because some lawmakers questioned his role in fundraising for the National D-Day Memorial in the late 1990s.
Harrison, who once served as a lawyer for the memorial’s foundation, became a key witness in the prosecution of the memorial’s former director, Richard Burrow. The prosecution ended with a hung jury.
Harrison signed a pretrial diversion agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to testify against Burrow in one trial. The U.S. attorney, John Brownlee, agreed not to prosecute Harrison on a possible wire fraud charge.
Harrison already has appeared before the General Assembly committees this year, but he was not among the 50-plus judges the Assembly elected Tuesday in its first round of judgeship approvals this year.
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