EXPERIENCED - TRANSPARENT - EFFECTIVE

The opportunities I have been afforded throughout my years of experience within the judicial system provide the foundation on which my commitment to the citizens of Goochland is based.  Having experience as a law-enforcement officer, criminal law defense attorney, and prosecutor provides a unique and valuable perspective in assessing an investigation while considering potential defense arguments and factual challenges.  

When called upon as defense counsel, I never avoided the cases which were difficult, unpleasant, or unpopular.  While challenging, those were the types of cases that provided an unparalleled immersion into the intricacies of trial advocacy, case preparation, and case presentation.  Protecting victim's rights, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a case, preparing witnesses for trial, and successfully presenting evidence to a judge or jury come only with years of experience.

While there is no substitute for the day-to-day interaction with law-enforcement officers, lay witnesses, defense attorneys, and judges, formal training plays a major role in ensuring a prosecutor maintains competence.  Some of the most recent training courses I have attended are:

• DEFCON: Digital Evidence, Forensics, Computers & Networks, National Domestic Communications Assistance Center
• Fury Road: Investigating and Prosecuting Impaired Fatal Crashes
• Advanced DUI
• Top Gun: Intensive Work-Shop Style Interactive Training on the Prosecution of Drug Cases
• Gang Busters: Intensive Work-Shop Style Interactive Training on the Prosecution of Gang Cases
• NDAA Multidisciplinary Conference on Domestic Violence, SanDiego, CA (Out-of -state training award from the Commonwealth's Attorney's Services Council)

Today, more than ever, balancing transparency in law-enforcement while maintaining the integrity of an investigation is problematic.  I understand those competing interests and it is the responsibility of the prosecutor to ensure that the rights of victims, defendants and the community are considered.   

I invite community members to attend court sessions.  See what we do.  If there are questions about a particular case, or just questions in general, our door is always open.  If you come by the office you will be accommodated.  If you call, your call will be accepted or, if  I'm not in, your call will be returned.  If you send an email, you will receive a reply.  I don't work for the Governor, the Attorney General, the State Police, the Sheriff's Office, or the Judge. I work for you.  You are my boss and I will continue to be open and transparent while working on your behalf.

The abilities of the attorneys in your Commonwealth's Attorney's Office are well known.  We are frequently appointed by the Circuit Courts of other jurisdictions to act as Special Prosecutor where the elected prosecutor is unable to act due to a conflict.

These cases are rarely minor traffic matters or misdemeanors.  I have handled numerous cases for the City of Richmond involving last year's riot activity as well as many riot-related cases for the City of Charlottesville in "Unite the Right" prosecutions. I have also prosecuted manslaughter, rape, murder, malicious wounding, and drug distribution cases for other jurisdictions.  I take it as a source of pride that I and my attorneys are entrusted to represent the citizens of other localities.

I am most proud of our office in protecting the rights of our most vulnerable and marginalized citizens, children and domestic violence victims.  We have a fully functional Multidisciplinary Team, a fully functional Sexual Assault Response Team, experienced and dedicated victim/witness coordinators, and participate in the regional Human Trafficking Collaborative.

One of my first priorities when I was elected in 2016 was to become a member of the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.  I am proud to say that every individual charged in Goochland County with possession of child pornography has been convicted.

We routinely work with local, state, and federal law-enforcement agencies as well as other prosecutors' offices.  Just to name a few, we have had cases involving the FBI, DEA, Postal Inspection, Border Patrol, U. S. Attorney's Office, Office of the Virginia Attorney General, Office of the Inspector General, Virginia Department of State Police, Virginia Parole Board, Virginia Department of Corrections, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Goochland County Sheriff's Office, and the Office of Goochland County Animal Protection.  Ultimately, it is my responsibility and authority to consider the evidence and the law and make a determination as to whether a case goes forward as a misdemeanor, a felony, or doesn't go forward at all. 

While I doubt that Shakespeare was ever a prosecutor, he was never more insightful when, in Henry IV, Part II, he writes "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."  I can attest that there have been many "uneasy" nights staring at the ceiling at 3:00 a.m.  trying to work through a particularly difficult case to ensure justice.

  "You were a bulldog in my attempted murder case, and I had the utmost confidence in your abilities to ensure justice in the matter."  Virginia State Police Trooper (now a Special Agent) repeatedly fired upon during a high-speed pursuit, attempted capital murder of a law-enforcement officer.

   "It was a pleasure working with you.  Your office held a high standard for the investigation, and I was better for having met that standard."  Virginia State Police Special Agent,  officer-involved fatal shooting.

    "From the beginning of the case, we all knew we were behind the eight ball, and the circumstances never seemed to get any better.  As we pushed forward in the investigation the majority of the information we kept developing never amounted to the "smoking gun," and always seemed to complicate matters.  The original case file didn't exist, evidence was purged, key witnesses were deceased, and memories were lost.  Nevertheless, you stayed committed to fight for Anne and bring justice for her and her family.  I can say with one hundred percent certainty that this case would have never seen the light of day in any other Virginia courtroom."

    "I thank you and your office for the exceptional level of service you provided throughout this investigation.  It has truly been a privilege to work alongside you and everyone else in this case."   FBI Special Agent,  Anne Carver Clapp murder case.

   "You made my job easy.  Thank you for your hard work before and during trial, and your very nicely argued rebuttal to the motions to strike." Assistant Attorney General, appellate counsel on double fatality involuntary manslaughter convictions.

"My name is Sabrina Lamb. I am here with my husband, Rodney. We are here tonight in support of Michael Caudill. We came to meet Mike in August 2018 after our son Joshua was struck and killed by a volunteer firefighter in May 2018.

Three months after our son's death our local Commonwealth's Attorney reached out to us and explained that he could not represent our son in this  legal matter as there was a conflict of interest. We were both confused as we have no relation to this person and only a resident in the same county.  We had been assigned a "Special Prosecutor"  and his name was Michael Caudill.

On August 8, 2018, Mr. Caudill reached out to me and introduced himself and explained he had been "brought in" to handle our case and that he would be representing our late son, Joshua. Mr. Caudill immediately expressed sympathy for what we had experienced on May 5, 2018.  Mr. Caudill also asked to meet in person to introduce himself and his staffing at a time convenient for us and our family.  It did not matter if it were after hours, he wanted to work on our schedule.  Still confused as to why our county attorney could not represent us, Mr. Caudill explained that we will discuss in person, let's meet.

The next day, we met with him and our family knew our son had a voice that would speak for him and would fight for him to bring us justice.  This meeting, Mike sat with his staff members and explained our process in detail, clearly so we would understand what would transpire, the steps of the process and also, the possibilities of what could happen with the negatives.

Weekly, Mike or a staff member would contact me with updates or if nothing had changed to just say we are just waiting, we don't want you to feel like the case isn't being worked.  To our family this had meaning, a person in his position working so many heavy cases and staying on top of each one just like ours showed us we had the best representation for our son.  Mike and his staff worked diligently and what we felt went beyond their scope of necessity for Joshua.

As a mother who had to do things on May 5, 2018 that no mother should ever have to do, or a father and younger brother seeing the horrific tragedy that happened as well as family and onlookers since we live in a small community, Mike consistently reassured our family we will fight, we will give your son 100%, we will stand and let him be heard, I will be his voice.

Mike Caudill is a compassionate, understanding, well knowledged and experienced person who goes above and beyond the call of  duty as well as his staff. I pray daily the no one would ever experience what we did and should they, I pray that he would be able to represent them the way he represented Joshua!

Our family thanks you Mike and all of your staff for everything you have done for my son.  You are such an amazing person and I can't say it enough how compassionate you are about what you do.  Anyone having you on your side has the best!"

Sabrina Lamb, mother of Joshua Lamb