Judge Hatchett Recalls Sexual Assault By Georgia Sheriff, ‘How Dare He Do That To Me!’

Famed TV Judge Glenda A. Hatchett is speaking out and celebrating the recent sentencing of former Bleckley County Sheriff Kristopher Coody who groped her in January 2022.

The former “Judge Hatchett” star opened up while speaking with WSB-TV‘s Karyn Greer following Coody’s guilty plea this week to groping her breasts at a sheriff’s convention. Revealing the counseling she’s still receiving to combat the depression she’s battled since the traumatic encounter, Hatchet shared how she feels about his outcome.

“He’s no longer the sheriff. He’s on probation for 12 months. $500 fine. 40 hours of community service,” she said. “And he didn’t get first-offender treatment. Which I am most pleased about.”

“So he will always have this on his record. As well he should,” she declared.

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The current “Verdict with Judge Hatchett” star went on to recount details of the harrowing exchange on the night of a convention hosted by the association representing Georgia’s sheriffs where she was introduced to Coody.

Hatchett recalls being “gracious” to Coody and sharing her family’s history in Georgia when the since-retired sheriff made a gesture and poked her chest before grabbing her breasts.

“I did not take offense to that,” Hatchett said of Coody poking her. “But then he grabbed my breasts. Was squeezing on my breasts and rubbing my breasts”

Coody only reportedly let go after someone else pulled his hand off and pushed him away, The Guardian reports.

“He so violated me, and at that moment I felt so powerless,” Hatchett told the AP. “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 went through a number of emotions including being “stunned” by Coody’s actions but also blaming herself for not taking more action upon being groped. But she wasted no time filing charges the next day in an encounter she says “brought me to my knees.”

“To feel that powerless, and not having any control over somebody who would do something so demeaning and horrific to you,” she said.

“How dare he do that to me! How dare he treat me like that!”

The Hatchett firm’s founding partner also called out Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, for not taking matters into his own hands and forcing Coody out sooner.

“I’m going to go there,” Hatchett told WMAZ. “The governor, after men and women … demanded the governor take action, he never suspended him.”