Judge’s touching decision brings inmate to tears: ‘This is your son’
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Tears were shed in a Jefferson County district courtroom Friday when Judge Amber Wolf allowed allowed an inmate to meet his one-month-old son for the first time.
It’s a moment Judge Wolf calls, “probably one of the best things I’ve ever done.”
Judge Wolf had already wrapped up a hearing for defendant James Roeder, and was about to begin another hearing for his wife, Ashley Roeder, according to courtroom video.
Both James and Ashley are charged as co-defendants in the same burglary, and have been ordered by Judge Wolf not to have contact with each other.
Judge Wolf said that Ashley Roeder had been nearby during her husband’s hearing, along with their baby, who had been born 30 days earlier — a baby James had never seen.
“I saw her try to hold the baby up when he came out for his case to be called with his attorney,” Judge Wolf told WDRB on Monday. “And I thought that he hadn’t seen that. And it occurred to me after we finished this case that he had not met his baby — who was 30 days old — and that he was not going to get an opportunity to meet his baby anytime in the near future.”
That’s when Judge Wolf says she decided to ask Ashley Roeder if she would like her husband to meet his baby for the first time. The mother said yes. So Judge Wolf called James Roeder back into the courtroom.
“Mrs. Roeder, do you want to come up here?” Judge Wolf asked.
At that point, Ashley Roeder, James Roeder’s wife, approached the bench, carrying her and James Roeders’ one-month-old child.
“I know you have a no-contact order between you and Mrs. Roeder that I issued — and I am not changing that,” said Judge Wolf. “I’m making a temporary exception right in front of me, on the record, so that you can meet this baby. This is your son.”
At that point, Ashley Roeder hands the baby to her husband, who holds him, standing before the judge in an orange jumpsuit, according to the video. He stands there holding the baby for several moments and appears to kiss the child.
“Do you see his little shirt?” Judge Wolf asked, smiling.
“Yeah…yeah,” James Roeder said.
Both James and Ashley appeared to wipe their eyes as he eventually hands the baby back to his wife. Judge Wolf handed out tissues.
“Give everybody some,” she said.
After James Roeder was escorted out, Judge Wolf told Ashley, “Thank you for letting me be a part of that.”
When both husband and wife had left the courtroom, Judge Wolf addressed those left inside.
“If you all aren’t teared up, then you’re just heartless,” she told those in the courtroom. Laughter could be heard in the video.