2023-08-21 20:25:57
A Georgia sheriff pleaded guilty to groping television judge Glenda Hatchett during a police conference last year and resigned Monday.
Bleckley County Sheriff Kristopher Coody pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of sexual assault in Cobb County state court, news outlets reported. Hatchett addressed the court, saying the ordeal “had cut me to the core.”
“For this man to come and rape me the way he did is indescribable,” Hatchett said.
Hatchett is an Atlanta attorney and star of the reality shows “Judge Hatchett” and “The Verdict With Judge Hatchett.” In 2016, represented the family of Philando Castile a black driver who was fatally shot by a police officer in a Twin Cities suburb, in a highly publicized lawsuit.
During a January 2022 Georgia Sheriffs Association conference, as Hatchett was being introduced to a group of sheriffs at a hotel bar, Coody groped her, prosecutors said.
Thomas Brown, a former DeKalb County sheriff, said Hatchett attended the conference as his guest. Brown said he physically removed Coody’s hand.
“I saw her hand go down over her left breast,” Brown told WSB-TV. “I grabbed his arm, threw it off his chest.”
Judge Carl Bowers sentenced Coody to serve one year of probation, pay a $500 fine and perform 400 hours of community service.
Sheriff’s attorney Joel Pugh said Coody sent a letter of resignation Monday morning to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
Coody had served since 2017 as sheriff for Bleckley County, a rural community of about 12,000 people located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of Macon.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward as Hatchett has.
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