Judge reprimanded after she ‘berated and belittled’ domestic-violence victim

Last edited Fri Sep 2, 2016, 12:25 AM - Edit history (1)

The Florida Supreme Court publicly reprimanded county court judge Jerri Collins on Thursday, Aug. 30, for berating a domestic violence victim.
Chief justice Jorge Labarga acknowledged Collins's apology, but called her behavior "intolerable."

Judge Collins stood through nearly six minutes of public reprimand after the Florida Supreme Court found that she violated the state’s code of judicial conduct.
Chief Justice Jorge Labarga said Collins “berated and belittled a victim of domestic violence” and used sarcasm and inflammatory language against the woman, who repeatedly pleaded with Collins to not send her to county jail because she had to take care of her then-1-year-old son.

Collins’s behavior “brought unnecessary criticism upon your court,” created the impression that she was biased toward prosecutors, and impaired the public’s perception of Florida judicial system’s fairness and impartiality.

“Judge Collins, this is indeed a sad day for you, a sad day for the people of Florida and a sad day for the judiciary upon which our people depend for justice,” Labarga said. “I cannot emphasize enough how intolerable your behavior was in this case.”

Collins was appointed to the bench in 2005 by then-Gov. Jeb Bush (R). She was reelected in 2014, winning the election primary with 51 percent of the vote.

A Facebook page and an online petition calling for her impeachment have since surfaced.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/09/01/intolerable-judge-reprimanded-after-she-berated-and-belittled-domestic-violence-victim/?utm_term=.5634e8cf9192

Judge reprimanded after she ‘berated and belittled’ domestic-violence victim
Sign the petition to:
Remove from office Judge Collins who berated and then JAILED sobbing domestic abuse victim

https://www.change.org/p/florida-governor-remove-from-office-judge-collins-who-berated-and-then-jailed-sobbing-domestic-abuse-victim

Like the Facebook page to Impeach Judge Collins at:

https://www.facebook.com/ImpeachJudgeJerriL.Collinspetition/