A Georgia sheriff pleaded guilty on 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.”
Hatchett, an Atlanta attorney, 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 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.
“It happened on a Tuesday, and by Thursday morning I could not get out of bed,” Hatchett said. “So I started counseling literally that evening.”
She reported the incident and Coody was arrested. On Monday, Hatchett was in the courtroom as the judge, Carl Bowers, sentenced Coody to serve one year on probation, pay a $500 fine and perform 400 hours of community service. His attorney, Joel Pugh, said Coody sent a resignation letter Monday morning to Georgia governor Brian Kemp.
Hatchett said identified herself publicly and spoke out because many women cannot.
“It’s important that other victims see me holding him accountable,” she said.
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