Michigan judge apologizes for shaming 72-year-old cancer patient over his overgrown lawn
Michigan Judge Alexis Krot apologized after recently coming under fire for her reaction to a 72-year-old cancer patient’s overgrown lawn.
Krot, who previously threatened Burhan Chowdhury with jail time over the weeds growing in his yard, said that she will be reporting herself to a state commission that examines judicial misbehavior.
“I made a mistake,” Krot told the Detroit Free Press in a statement. “I acted intemperately. I’m very embarrassed that I did so. I apologize to the person who appeared before me and to our entire community for having failed to meet the high standards that we expect of our judicial officers, and that I expect of myself.”
The judge had previously told the elderly ill man during a Zoom hearing to be “ashamed of himself” for not being able to clean up his lawn. Chowdhury was sent a ticket on Aug. 2 for “failing to keep the fence, walkway, sidewalk or alley free of trees, leaves” and was ordered to pay a $100 fine by Feb. 1.
Krot’s reaction of shaming the cancer patient sparked online criticism and a petition to remove her from office, as NextShark previously reported. The petition has received more than 234,000 signatures as of this writing, becoming one of the top signed petitions on Change.org.
“When someone appears before me and has made a mistake, I expect them to own up to it,” Krot added. “I expect nothing less than myself. No ifs, ands or buts: That is the reason I self reported my behavior to the judicial tenure commission. I had no legal duty to report myself to the commission. But I did so because, like apologizing to the community, it was the right thing to do. I will continue to hold myself to the standards I set for others.”
Advocates saw the incident as a reflection of the hostile behavior that some immigrants face in the local courts. Chowdhury, an immigrant from Bangladesh, lives in Hamtramck, the city with the highest percentage of immigrants in the U.S.
Featured Images via LackLuster
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