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Judge O’Berry apparently out

Jeremy M. Lazarus | 1/28/2021, 6 p.m.
Judge Pamela O’Berry’s 12-year tenure on theChesterfieldCountyGeneralDistrictCourt likely will end Wednesday, March 31.
Judge O’Berry

Judge Pamela O’Berry’s 12-year tenure on the Chesterfield County General District Court likely will end Wednesday, March 31.

Supporters seeking to keep Judge O’Berry on the bench for another six years were unable to get her name through a crucial General Assembly committee this week.

On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee, which previously cleared 46 other judges for reappointment, declined to consider a last-minute motion to send Judge O’Berry’s name to the full Senate for certification to a third term.

The motion died after an objection was raised that the matter was not on the committee’s agenda. The committee did not vote to include her name on the larger list approved a week ago.

Unless Judge O’Berry is re-nominated and approved by both the House of Delegates and state Senate for the vacancy her departure would create, which currently seems unlikely, the committee’s action signals the end of Judge O’Berry’s service on the bench at the expiration of her current term.

Judge O’Berry’s current and second, six-year term began on April 1, 2015.

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus had urged approval of Judge O’Berry, who is one of two Black judges among more than 15 on the county’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations, General District and Circuit courts.

However, none of the three senators who represent Chesterfield County, Amanda Chase, Ghazala F. Hashmi and Joseph D. Morrissey, have backed Judge O’Berry’s reappointment.

Sen. Morrissey said he did not support her because the results of her judicial evaluation on 18 items found her falling short on a number of those items, ranging from courtesy to those appearing before her to knowledge of the law, and by statements from the Chesterfield Branch NAACP urging her removal.

Sen. Morrissey said he would seek to ensure that her replacement is a Black attorney and that he supports adding more Black judges to the Chesterfield County courts.