Fla. judge punished for sentencing sexual abuse victim to jail
Belittling in the name of the law.
A Florida judge has been publicly reprimanded for sending a sexual abuse survivor to jail for three days last year.
The victim’s crime: she failed to testify against the man who had allegedly abused her.
Seminole County Judge Jerri Collins admitted Tuesday she had wrongly sent a sexual abuse survivor to jail and agreed to taking anger management and domestic violence courses, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Fla. judge who jailed domestic violence victim admits error
“You berated and belittled a victim of domestic violence,” Chief Justice Jorge Labarga told Collins. “You were discourteous and impatient…You raised your voice, used sarcasm, spoke harshly and interrupted the victim.”
Collins remained mum throughout the humiliating five-minute lecture.
A local judicial commission argued Collins had not violated the law – but she broke a slew of ethical codes for how Florida judges are supposed to act.
The reprimand came down as punishment for a heartless incident last year when Collins snapped at an unidentified sexual abuse victim who begged not to testify.
Domestic abuse victim berated by Florida judge left scarred
Seminole County Judge Jerri L. Collins. She is receiving a public reprimand in a plea deal with the state after berating and imprisoning a woman after she refused to testify against her abuser.
(Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court/flcourts18.org)
“I’ve been dealing with depression and a lot of personal anxiety since this happened,” the victim said, tears running down her cheeks.
“You think you’re going to have anxiety now?” Collins, 54, shot back. “You haven’t even seen anxiety.”
“Judge, I’ll do anything…I have a 1-year-old son, and I’m trying to take care of him by myself. I’m begging you, please, please don’t,” the woman pleaded.
“Turn around,” Collins coldly stated. “You should have showed up. I’ve already issued my order.”
An online petition to remove the berating judge was launched in response to her outrageous victim bashing. As of early Thursday, the petition had garnered over 900 of its pledged 1,000 signatures.
“Judge Collins made light of the mental illness (the victim) had developed from her abuse and threw the book at her,” the petition says. “This was in itself a form of abuse and may discourage other victims from going to the police or court.”
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Fla. judge punished for sentencing sexual abuse victim to jail
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