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Wean A Suit
Judge Carson wears a business suit instead of a black robe “because I believe less formality is more appropriate in a people’s court.”
He decides civil suits involving money up to $5,000 and criminal cases in which a defendant is charged with a misdemeanor, a charge which has a penalty of no more than one year in jail, a fine up to $1,000 or both.
Judge Carson also holds preliminary hearings in felony cases—any charge punishable by more than one year in jail—before the evidence can go before a 'grand jury in Circuit Court.
Washing Lawyers Spar
“1 grew up at a small country courthouse in Southside Virginia,” he said, “where the most important people there were the lawyers. I used to sit in the courtroom and watch these lawyers spar with each other.
“When I was a boy, court convened only four times a year, and court would remain in session until all the cases were heard,” said the judge. “Those were very exciting times.”
Judge Carson was appointed 11 years ago to fill the unexpired term of the late Richard H. Marriott, a trial justice and Fauquier County judge for 25 years before he died while still in office.
Judge Carson, a former Commonwealth’s Attorney in Cumberland County, was allowed at that point to continue his association with the Richards & Richards firm of Warrenton.
Sworn into the county judgeship at a salary of $8,800 on a Monday, Judge Carson heard his first cases
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