(Raleigh, N.C.) – A superior court judge has refused to step down and allow another judge to hear the case of Wallace Bradsher, the former district attorney of Caswell and Person counties accused of hiring another prosecutor’s wife for a job that never required her to work..

Bradsher filed a motion Tuesday to remove Judge Paul Ridgeway from the case, charging that he cannot be objective when Wake County District Attoney Lorrin Freeman initially investigated the case and charged him. Bradsher faces charges of felony conspiracy, obtaining property by false pretense, aiding and abetting obstruction of justice and failure to discharge duties.

Bradsher, who is representing himself, also wants to call Ridgeway as a character witness, which is another reason he cited for the judge to step aside.
Freeman removed himself from the case last summer, and retired prosecutor Tom Ford was named to handle it.