Trial over Charlottesville’s statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee scheduled for Tuesday

UPDATE: The upcoming trial over the bronze statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was once on display in Charlottesville’s Market Street Park has again been postponed.

PREVIOUSLY: The complicated public saga over a bronze statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was once on display in Charlottesville’s Market Street Park will be back in court next week.

The statue, best known for inspiring the Unite the Right rally in August 2017, has been at the center of legal challenges in the half decade since the City Council first voted to take down the statue.

The current legal challenge was brought by the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Ratcliffe Foundation and revolves around whether the city correctly followed the legal process when handing the statue over to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center in late 2021. The Heritage Center is currently in possession of the statue.

The case has been scheduled for trial twice this year, and both times it was postponed. It is scheduled for trial for the third time on Tuesday April 25 at 9:30 a.m. in Charlottesville Circuit Court.

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