A Channel 2 exclusive in the sexual assault case filed by a prominent television judge against a Georgia sheriff.
The Georgia Sheriffs’ Association wants Judge Glenda Hatchett to pay legal fees and expenses of ligation in the lawsuit she filed against the organization and Bleckley County Sheriff.
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The judge did not rule on the case Wednesday.
Hatchett sued former Sheriff Kris Coody after she says he groped her in 2022 at a Georgia Sheriffs’ Association event in a bar at a Cobb County hotel.
“He grabbed my breast,” she told Channel 2’s Karyn Greer in a 2023 interview. “Grabbed my breast, was squeezing on my breast and rubbing my breast.”
Coody pleaded guilty to sexual battery, admitting he groped her breast at the event. The former sheriff resigned, received 12 months probation, 40 hours of community service and a $500 fine.
He was also ordered to take an alcohol and drug abuse course.
Hatchett filed suit against the former sheriff and the Sheriffs’ Association for legal fees and damages, asking for a jury trial. But she dropped that suit in May 2024 after it was moved to Morgan County.
In a turn of events, the Sheriffs’ Association, which represents sheriffs across the state, has now filed a motion against Hatchett. It claimed that it was a frivolous lawsuit, demanding she pay the group’s legal fees and damages.
Greer reached out to the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association and left a message for a comment on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, the head of the association sent a statement that read in part:
“First and most importantly, the assault on Ms. Hatchett should never have happened and every sheriff and our Association staff continue to recognize the resulting trauma she suffers. This deplorable act was committed in a public space by an intoxicated individual who happened to be the elected sheriff of Bleckley County.
The offender was not an employee or agent of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association and the assault did not occur at an event hosted, sponsored or funded by the Association."
She also reached out to the Gwinnett County Sheriff Keybo Taylor, who is a member of the association.
“The incident was inappropriate and should have never happened … and that’s not how sheriffs anywhere should act,” Taylor said. “It’s below the standards of sheriffs. I don’t feel her lawsuit was frivolous.”
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