Judge Jacqueline Hatch of Coconino County is under fire for her advice to a woman sexually abused by an off-duty police officer about visiting bars and “blaming others” for such problems. Hatch has now apologized for the advice that she gave the victim of officer Robb Gary Evans.
Evans reportedly drank eight beers and used his badge to get into a Flagstaff bar for free. He then proceeded to reach up the victim’s skirt and groped her. Evans knew the woman from mutual friends.
After sentencing Evans to probation (he was later fired as an officer), Hatch proceeded to offer some advice to the victim. She reportedly told the woman that “If you wouldn’t have been there that night, none of this would have happened to you.” Hatch explained that the woman should not even go to a grocery store after 10 pm without understanding the obvious dangers, let alone a bar. She added her own mother’s advice that “When you blame others, you give up your power to change.”
I have long been a critic of the loss of professionalism on our courts in the age of faux courtroom shows like Judge Judy and Judy Brown. Judges increasingly seem to yield to the desire to use their courtrooms to dispense their own forms of improvised justice or homegrown advice.
Hatch has since apologized: “As a Coconino County Superior Court judge, it is my responsibility to ensure that all victims and defendants are treated fairly and in a respectful manner in the courtroom. It’s a responsibility I take very seriously. I also believe victims should not be blamed for coming forward to report crimes.”
The unnamed victim accepted the apology and thanked the public for the support that they showed in the controversy.
Source: AZ Daily as first seen on ABA Journal.
well nick, in the reddest county of a red state, we get to be ripped off by the good old boys who have held power since Goldwater.
This county in Az. has had to pick up 45 million that was stolen from the fairgrounds/racetrack During the hidden books downfall, they held a race meet without a license from the Jockey Club, I do not know why no one is in jail- no one knows where all that pari-mutual betting money went either. Now bankruptcy.
All the kids looking forward to showing their 4-H project had no place to go.
they bought a commercial lot for Trader Joes with the town water money, full pop, friends of the developer no doubt.
Good thing I spend half the time in Vermont, a place with good governance, or I would go bonkers. I stay out of Az politics, too crazy.
In the village where I live, if a single woman is seen alone inside the man’s drinkin’ saloon, it’s because she wants to sign onto the brothels within. Barkindog will next say that ladies (single or married or otherwise occupied) should not be allowed on the judicial bar either. Really, Barkindog , the first rule of any civilized man learns that women should be given a decent benefit of the doubt , Before you bring into this verbal fight the wrath of Latin doggerel (that’s not exactly a compliment as your pig Latin is just not anyone’s idea of Latin doggerel ) I warn you that I studied Latin with the tutelage of a very old and learned nun . Be warned !
I’m removing the silliness, just a moment …
Millions of women know that there are laws of reason and reasoned judges that can help them through abusive situations .
Barry Goldwater was known in the 21st century as an interesting compassionate man as are all the candidates from Carter to the Bushes , whether they won their political elections or not . No man and no woman is defined by a single election .
ichinBayDog here, sitting in for BarkinDog who is nursing a dog bite in the rear end. Say what you all want about woman judges. We need em to corral these dumb young women who frequent bars and show their skin on the beaches. All they do is stir up the boys. Now, as to the pig who groped the bar hopper under her dress, he needs to have his hand cut off. Give him a job serving papers, he can use the left hand for that. Take his badge away and shove it where the sun dont shine, which is seldom seen in Arizona. Better yet make that woman judge the Chief Judge– of the Cheyanne.
Eeyore, Ironically, I live in a bastion of liberalism, a place most of you folks would love. The groupthink DRIVES ME NUTS. The nanny govt. drives me nuts. I don’t want to be around people that think like me. I want to be around a diversity of thought. I have very liberal and very conservative friends and I love them all.
Nick
Surely you want to reconsider your comment that the politics of a place doesn’t matter if you are living there. If you really want to stand by that remark, I’m sure there are a few here with some really interesting suggestions that you might try. I’ll resist that temptation.
Rev. Billy Graham is right. We need revival in this country. This judge is
reflective of how far gone our society is.
TomMil
1, September 10, 2012 at 1:39 pm
maybe it’s me, but I suspect the whole redirection of blame here had something to do with the fact that the defendant had a badge.
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I don’t think it’s just you for that was my first thought when I read the post. My second thought was “good for the victim”. She stood up to the cop and then to the Judge.
She also has a very real talent for languages and after only a couple days her Spanish had morphed quite nicely so that she could ask questions and order food that wasn’t even on the menu. The owners of these little restaurants loved her especially after they learned we were from up north along Lake Erie. They would even recommend places to spend the night that were like little B&B’s in whatever town we were heading towards. I think we probably ended up on some Mexican underground highway but all of the places were exceptional and beautiful.
For crying out loud, why does the politics of a place have ANYTHING to do w/ living or vacationing. Come out of your freakin’ comfort zone. GEEZ!!
“I had one of the best Mexican meals ever there.” (nick spinelli)
Ah yes … The last time we were in New Mexico we took 2 of our granddaughters with us and drove all over the state. The oldest loves Mexican cooking so as we drove through one small town after another, we would let her choose the restaurant for lunch or dinner. She almost always picked these little hole-in-the-wall places that, until we learned to trust her judgement, scared the living hell out of Tex and I. What can I say? The food was always superb and in some cases downright spectacular. The child had a sixth sense.
Eeyore,
Since I have to return to Arizona next summer (family obligations) I will take your and others advice and schedule a few days in Sedona. I played the video without sound and loved it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7nAfO4BXPY&feature=player_embedded
here’s the drive on 179 in SNOW! Snow lasts about 30 minutes in Sedona.
Sorry for the muzak.
shano
179 up the canyon is a damn good drive, too. I think you may be noting that the TOWN of Sedona caters to tourists and is a place to avoid. But the trails, sir, the trails…. incomparable!
Last time I was in Prescott, there were about three Democrats. I hope the pockets are getting bigger.
Lemuel Gulliver reflecting on his return to Human society,
“My Reconcilement to the Yahoo-kind in general might not be so difficult, if they would be content with those Vices and Follies only which Nature hath entitled them to. I am not in the least provoked at the Sight of a Lawyer, a Pick-pocket, a Colonel. . . . This is all according to the due Course of Things: But, when I behold a Lump of Deformity, and Diseases both in Body and Mind, smitten with Pride, it immediately breaks all the Measures of my Patience; neither shall I ever be able to comprehend how such an Animal and such a Vice could tally together.”
Flagstaff has a TeaPot congressman too.
The Hopi & Navajo are up at the ski resort everyday protesting using reclaimed sewer water to make snow.
Sedona is near Sycamore canyon, the most beautiful drive in the west (dirt road) and the first National forest set aside by Teddy R.
Every time I see Sedona I just thank god the Navajos own Monument Valley instead of the gringos.
Prescott is cool, the best water area in Az. with pockets of political resistance…
But this judge does not surprise me at all. The election will be interesting!
blouise
Sedona is a little bit “blue” and is heaven on earth. The trails are magnificent. Don’t do drive-bys. – get out there and walk. Just don’t do it May through September. I lived there for five wonderful years but glad I left before the Brewer years. I’d be suicidal.
Oh, and Chris, you are probably 100% correct. But then, that’s Arizona for you!
I spent four years at NAU in Flagstaff…LOVE the place. The only problem with Flagstaff is that it’s in Arizona, ergo part of the Unholy Trio of Florida, Texas and Arizona. BTW, Chris, the Arizona Daily Sun is not the local Flagstaff paper. The Daily Sun is the Tucson paper.
TomMil’s conjecture is certainly consistent with the way the case played out in court. Lenient sentencing was apparently the result of the Thin Blue Line rallying around the officer. From the local paper (http://azdailysun.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/no-jail-time-for-flagstaff-cop-in-bar-groping/article_0aa8be56-f7a3-11e1-b804-0019bb2963f4.html):
“Before the sentencing, character witnesses for the defendant questioned the jury’s guilty verdict.”
“Prosecutors criticized that testimony, which was given in person and by letter, as trying to cast Evans as the victim of some conspiracy by detectives, prosecutors, bouncers at the Green Room and the victim herself. Some 25 letters were submitted on Evans’ behalf, many from current and former law enforcement officers….
“These people put their lives on the line every day,” Evan’s former partner said. “I hope you’ll be lenient on him. To me, this is one way we can give a little back to those in law enforcement who give so much to us everyday.”
It is worth noting that police work is not even in the top 10 most dangerous professions, and that the most common cause of on the job fatalities for police officers is traffic accidents, not being shot or otherwise killed by criminals. By the officer above’s logic, loggers, fishermen, miners, and others in truly dangerous professions should be given lesser sentences when the commit felonies because “they give so much to us every day.”