Video of judge sending domestic violence victim to jail for not testifying

A female judge has been slammed for shouting at a domestic abuse victim then sentencing her to jail for not turning up to testify against her alleged attacker.

The woman said she had moved out, she was trying to move on with her life and she wanted the case dropped.

The judge had the option of fining the unnamed woman or sentencing her to community service. The victim explained to the judge she had anxiety over seeing the man in trial, but the judge retorted “You think you have anxiety now?” before sentencing her to three days in jail.

The victim told the judge and the state victim’s advocate that she was feeling anxiety about testifying, so she did not come to court. “You haven’t even seen anxiety”, Collins said (beginning at about 3 minutes into the video). We had a jury – six people there – ready to try [the accused], who has a prior criminal history of domestic violence’. “I hereby sentence you to three days in the county jail”.

What do you think of the Florida Judge Jerri Collins and her sentencing of the domestic abuse victim? She began her career as an assistant state’s attorney in Seminole County, and then opened a private practice in Longwood, Florida, before becoming a judge. ABC News references court documents that say the woman was served with a subpoena in June, but was a no-show on July 22; on July 30 she was made to attend a contempt of court hearing.

“You disobeyed a court order knowing that this was not going to turn out well for the state”. Anyone who fails to show up for a court hearingor subpoena can be held in contempt of court, but throwing a domestic violence victim in jail for it is rare. He was charged with simple battery and spent 16 days in jail, but when his trial date arrived, the victim was nowhere to be found. Hence the contempt of court hearing pictured above.

The woman screams and cries, ‘please! “I’ll do anything”, which Judge Collins ignores. “Look what happened to her. She could be lying, broken in a ditch somewhere, and she would probably not call police because of what happened to her in this place”, Jeanne Gold, the CEO of SafeHouse, a Florida organization that offers shelter to abuse victims, told WFTV.

Collins has stood by her decision and refused to comment to the media.

The judge did the right thing. Secondly, by law, she had a duty to charge her for wasting the taxpayer’s money and the court’s time. She threw her in jail! Should of just fined her if anything.The woman seems like she has been through enough.