Deaths, State Judges

Florida Judge Berated Sick Woman Who Died Days Later

The video is just awful to watch.

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Judges wield a lot of power. Particularly in their courtrooms, where they are the ultimate authority and their attitude can set the tone for the entire proceeding. Generally speaking, judges are able to balance their power with the quest for justice. But in those instances when the scale gets overly weighted on the side of power, well, the results are just awful.

Take the recent example of Sandra Faye Twiggs, 59, who appeared before Judge Merrilee Ehrlich, a Broward County Florida circuit court judge, on April 15th facing misdemeanor charges following a dispute with her daughter. According to reporting by the Miami Herald, this was Twiggs’s first brush with the law, and it was destined to be her last.

In video of the interaction between Ehrlich and Twiggs, embedded in full below, you can see the judge berating the wheelchair-bound defendant. Twiggs’s family has said she suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and requested a breathing treatment.

Compassion was apparently too much for Judge Ehrlich, and she scolded Twiggs, yelling, “Ma’am, I’m not here to talk to you about your breathing treatment!”

The abuse continues when Twiggs tries to provide the judge with detailed, pertinent information but the judge was unwilling to listen.

Again, Ehrlich prevails upon Twiggs’ lawyer to teach her better courtroom manners. “Will you say something in the microphone so that she can hear you and you can give her instructions about propriety in the court?” the judge says. “I’m not going to spend all day with her interrupting me,” Ehrlich says.

“You’ve already said too much!” the judge yells later, as Twiggs tries to answer another question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF0kUzK0478

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Twiggs was released without bond — even though Judge Ehrlich initially wanted to issue one despite no such recommendation from a prosecutor or pretrial officers and all parties agreeing that Miss Twiggs has no criminal history whatsoever.

Twiggs was found dead in her bed by her sister the next day. Twiggs’s family and friends are distraught over how she was treated before her death:

Said Carolyn Porter, a family friend of Twiggs: “She came home so devastated she couldn’t catch her breath.”

Porter told the Miami Herald that once Twiggs was released from jail and taken back home, she was starving, dizzy and borderline breathless. She had trouble getting her medications in the jail, Porter said.

The local public defender’s office has also spoken out about the incident:

Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein called it “aggressive and tyrannical behavior and revealed her lack of emotional fitness to sit on the bench.”

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They’ve also noted very little would have been required to treat Twiggs with basic human dignity:

“It is not appropriate for anyone to endure that kind of treatment,” said Finkelstein’s chief assistant, Gordon Weekes. “All that was required was a bit of patience, and a bit of respect to allow this lady to speak, to gather herself and to breathe.”

Instead, Twiggs died, “and never had the opportunity to have her dignity restored,” Weekes said.

As reported by CBS News, according to Broward Chief Administrative Judge Jack Tuter, following the incident Judge Ehrlich will not be returning to her courtroom. She was already scheduled to retire this summer. Tuter was also appropriately chagrined over Ehrlich’s behavior:

Tuter said he would contact Twiggs’ family to apologize.

“I am saddened and disappointed in the way Judge Ehrlich behaved on the video. Her behavior cannot be condoned,” he said.

It’s too late for Twiggs, but perhaps this will serve as an example for all jurists why compassion is an essential skill.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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