Commonwealth v. Jackson

In this appeal, we consider whether a trial judge must recuse himself from presiding over a probation revocation hearing if he was the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the jurisdiction at the time and place of the defendant’s original criminal conviction. The Court of Appeals held that recusal was mandatory under such circumstances. Jackson v. Commonwealth, 40 Va. App. 343, 579 S.E.2d 375 (2003). We disagree.

I. Facts and Proceedings Below

In 1997, pursuant to a plea agreement, Kenneth Lamont Jackson pled guilty in the Circuit Court of the City of Norfolk to two counts of possession of cocaine with…