BLECKLEY COUNTY, GEORGIA: A Georgia sheriff has pleaded guilty to groping television judge Glenda Hatchett during a law enforcement conference last year.
Kristopher Coody reportedly also resigned from the Bleckley County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, August 21 when he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery in Cobb County Superior Court, according to the NY Post.
The 72-year-old TV judge revealed that the horrific incident took place at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel & Convention Center on January 18, when she was in town for a gathering of the Georgia Sheriff’s Association.
When Kristopher Coody groped Glenda Hatchett?
The judge was being introduced to a group of sheriffs at a hotel bar when Coody allegedly grabbed her left breast. “I saw his hand go down on her left breast. I grabbed his arm, threw it off of her chest,” Thomas Brown, a former DeKalb County sheriff, previously told WSB-TV.
Following the guilty plea, Hatchett, an Atlanta lawyer, told reporters how she was left stunned when Coody “grabbed” and “squeezed” her left breast.
“He then started rubbing on my breast,” she said before Brown “literally had to take his hand off of me and push him off of me.” Hatchett said in court the ordeal “has cut me to the core.”
“To be on this side of this is very difficult. It is important for the defendant and everyone present to understand the horrific effect this has had on me,” she further expressed.
Hatchett was a cast member of 'The Judge Hatchett Show' before moving on to star in the courtroom program 'The Verdict with Judge Hatchett'.
What Kristopher Coody said about the incident?
Joel Pugh, Coody's attorney, confirmed that his client submitted Georgia Governor Brian Kemp a letter of resignation on Monday morning.
Following the guilty plea, Coody has been sentenced to one year of probation and given a $500 fine and 400 hours of community service.
In a lengthy statement, Coody claimed that he "had no intent to touch Ms. Hatchett inappropriately." “Unfortunately, I acted in a careless manner, and for that I have taken full responsibility for my actions,” he said, before adding that “I would like to apologize to the citizens of Bleckley County for the entirety of this unfortunate incident.”
He also vowed to overcome “this setback,” according to WXIA. “I have never allowed my mistakes to dictate who I am or diminish my spirit and resolve,” Coody further remarked.
