A Georgia sheriff was forced to resign after pleading guilty to sexual battery for fondling the breast of famed TV judge Glenda Hatchett in January 2022.
Sheriff Kris Coody of Bleckley County, which is 120 miles south of Atlanta, was sentenced to 12 months probation and ordered to complete community service. He was ordered to pay over $500 in fines and has to complete an alcohol and drug evaluation, Coody’s attorney Joel Pugh told CNN.
Hatchett, who is a former judge in Atlanta and the host of the hit shows “Judge Hatchett” and “The Verdict with Judge Hatchett,” explained how having her breast fondled in front of other people has permanently damaged her life.
The celebrity judge first explained how she was invited to a reception by former DeKalb County Sheriff Thomas Brown and was talking to a group of people when Coody walked up to her “uninvited.”
When Hatchett inquired where Bleckley County was due to her unfamiliarity with the area, she testified in court that Coody poked her in the chest to signify that Bleckley is in the middle of Georgia. It was at that time that he cuffed her breast and began fondling it.
“But then he grabbed my breast. He grabbed my left breast. He squeezed it, he then started rubbing on my breast,” recounted Hatchett, who was frozen with shock.
Brown raced over to snatch Coody’s hand away and demanded to know what he thought he was doing. By that time, the damage to Hatchett’s psychic had already been done.
“I am a very strong woman, I pride myself on being strong and I really thought I was fine,” Hatchett said, according to Atlanta’s 11 Alive news station.
Hatchett said she was mentally and emotionally paralyzed after the assault and could not “stop crying” in the days afterward. After filing a police report the following morning, the crestfallen Hatchett said she could not sleep and immediately sought out counseling.
“I needed help. My life had been changed. And as I said to the judge in the court this morning, that I never expected that I would be so deeply affected by this. I cried and cried and cried in court,” she said.
“There is a scar that he left and what I really resent is that someone could have that kind of power over me. That somebody could make me, in that moment, feel helpless. I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life. And I was angry,” Hatchett added. “I was absolutely frozen.”
