Bleckley County Sheriff Kris Coody pleads guilty in sexual battery case, resigns
A Middle Georgia sheriff accused of groping a judge at a sheriff’s association conference has pleaded guilty and resigned from his office.
Bleckley County Sheriff Kris Coody was charged with misdemeanor sexual battery following the incident on Jan. 18, 2022 involving Judge Glenda Hatchett at Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel.
The hotel was hosting the Georgia Sheriff’s Association’s three-day Winter Training Conference.
Monday, Coody was sentenced to a year probation and 40 hours of community service and fined $500 as part of a plea deal. He was ordered to complete a pyschosexual evaluation and an alcohol and drug course, according to 13WMAZ.
Coody sent a resignation letter to Gov. Brian Kemp’s office. Chief Deputy Daniel Cape is now the acting Bleckley County sheriff.
Hatchett is well-known for her starring roles on the TV shows “Judge Hatchett” and “The Verdict with Judge Hatchett.” The Emory law school graduate was senior attorney and public relations manager for Delta Air Lines, served as Chief Presiding Judge of the Fulton County’s juvenile court and founded The Hatchett Firm in 2014.
She described the assault in detail during a press conference Monday afternoon. She said Coody approached her during the conference. Originally from Troup County, Hatchett said she told Coody she wasn’t familiar with where Bleckley County was.
“He poked me just momentarily in the chest, said it was just ‘Right in the heart of Georgia.’ Then he grabbed my left breast, he squeezed it, he then started rubbing on my breast,” Hatchett said during her press conference, adding that former DeKalb County Sheriff Thomas Brown intervened. “[Brown] had to literally take [Coody’s] hand off of me and push him off of me.”
Hatchett criticized Gov. Kemp’s office for declining to take action following the incident.
“I’d never felt so helpless in my entire life, and I was angry that I didn’t slap [Coody], I didn’t kick him,” she said. “But now I understand victims, I was absolutely frozen... The message has to be clear: you cannot do this.”
Coody’s attorney and Gov. Kemp’s office did not respond to requests for comment from the Telegraph before our print deadline.
This story was originally published August 21, 2023 at 11:43 AM.
