Florida judge who sent domestic violence victim to jail reprimanded
Seminole County, Fla., Judge Jerri Collins was publicly reprimanded in Tallahassee on Tuesday by Florida's chief justice for publicly belittling a domestic violence victim.
Last year Collins ordered the woman to jail for three days for failing to come to court and testify against the man she accused of abusing her.
The woman tried to explain, saying, "I've been dealing with depression and a lot of personal anxiety since this happened. ... "
The judge snapped, "You think you're going to have anxiety now? You haven't even seen anxiety."
The state agency that polices judges, the Judicial Qualifications Commission, charged Collins with violating several rules that spell out how Florida judges are to behave.
They are to be patient, dignified and courteous, and Collins was not, according to the JQC.
The 54-year-old Collins agreed that she had been in the wrong. She also agreed to the public reprimand, and to take an anger management course and one on domestic violence.
She had the legal right to jail the woman, the Florida Supreme Court found, but she should not have been so mean.
"You berated and belittled a victim of domestic violence," said Chief Justice Jorge Labarga. "You were discourteous and impatient ... You raised your voice, used sarcasm, spoke harshly and interrupted the victim."
Labarga also admonished Collins, a former prosecutor, for appearing to favor the state.
_Orlando Sentinel
