A Georgia sheriff pleaded guilty Monday to groping TV Judge Glenda Hatchett, who recalled being so stunned that she froze when the lawman grabbed and squeezed her breast at a hotel bar last year during a law enforcement conference.
Bleckley County Sheriff Kristopher Coody pleaded guilty in Cobb County State Court to a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery and was sentenced to a year on probation, news outlets reported. He also resigned from the office he had held since 2017.
“He so violated me, and at that moment I felt so powerless,” Hatchett told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday after the hearing. “I see myself as a strong woman. I have never been a victim, and I felt it was important for there to be accountability.”
An Atlanta attorney, Hatchett starred in the courtroom reality shows “Judge Hatchett” and “The Verdict With Judge Hatchett.” She also represented the family of Philando Castile, a black driver who was shot dead by a Minnesota police officer in a Twin Cities suburb, in a highly publicized lawsuit.
In January 2022, she attended a meeting of the Georgia Sheriff’s Association as the guest of a retired Georgia sheriff who introduced her to several colleagues. One of the sheriffs she met at the convention hotel’s bar outside Atlanta was Coody.
Hatchett said she told Coody she wasn’t sure where his home county was located. The sheriff pointed a finger at her chest, she said, and replied: “In the heart of Georgia.” She said he then repeated those words as he grabbed her left breast and began squeezing and rubbing it.
Hatchett said she froze in shock and that it was her host, former DeKalb County Sheriff Thomas Brown, who grabbed Coody’s arm and pulled it away from her.
Hhhmmmh, I haven’t seen the part where it says he has to register as a sex offender?
“…and that government of the COPS, by the COPS, for the COPS, shall ONE DAY perish from the earth.”
Just sayin’!
Funny story, I guess judge Hatchett was looking good at the Barr that night because that cop wanted to show her more then were the heart of Georgia was.
Poor guy and Ms Hatchett were probably drunk and flirting with each other BUT he took the flirting way to far, and I agree why isn’t he required to register like everyone else
Another example of someone not on the registry committing a sex offense and [they think] we are the ones that need to be monitored. Mr. Can’t keep my hands to myself and others like him need to be held accountable for what they’ve done and know what it’s like to be a price club member.
No prison time either…. Is this comparable to anyone else’s experience? Seems kind of light for a state that claims to be hard on sex offenders.
“He so violated me, and at that moment I felt so powerless,”…. Seriously, who cares? I grow so sick of these “victims” and their never ending thirst for blood. Was she violated? Yes, was she forcibly raped, or held at gunpoint while being violently assaulted? But she felt so powerless. This… This is what these victims want to convey. They are such innocent people and the individual who violated their territorial bubble will face not just their wrath but that of everyone else who all wants a share of the glory of vindicating the act that made this woman feel so violated. Meanwhile, wasn’t there a case in Europe that a judge said a momentary touch didn’t rise to such a level of being considered molesting? I don’t think this man should get a free pass for what he did, but she shouldn’t use the act as a platform to garner as much attention as possible all because of what…. She “felt” violated? Because she wants to make it a big huge episode out of it to get even more attention of how she can relate to being “victimized”.