LOUISA — Long before George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police and racial unrest spilled into small towns nationwide, Doug Ramseur walked into the circuit courtroom in Louisa to be appointed as an attorney for Darcel Murphy, a 33-year-old Black man facing a capital murder charge. To his surprise, a towering homage to Lee stared back.

In 2018, Ramseur filed a motion arguing that Murphy should be tried in a courtroom without images “that could be interpreted as glorifying, memorializing, or otherwise endorsing the efforts of those fought on behalf of the Confederate cause or its principles.”

Judge Sanner granted the motion writing, “Given the significantly prevalent image of Robert E. Lee as a figure of racial hatred and prejudice, the Court is compelled to conclude that such image is unwelcoming to many of the African Americans, and others, who are compelled to appear in our courtroom as litigants, witnesses, jurors, attorneys, and judges.”

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