A Kentucky judge who expressed outrage after a defendant was brought into her court in late July while wearing no pants is back in the news after she allowed an inmate to meet his 1-month-old son for the first time in a touching moment caught on camera.
Jefferson County Judge Amber Wolf told WDRB-TV she knew James Roeder had not been able to see his new son, because he and his wife, Ashley, have been barred from contacting each other while they are co-defendants in a burglary case.
“I saw her try to hold the baby up when he came out for his case to be called with his attorney,” Wolf told the news station “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.”
Wolf can be seen in the video calling on Ashley Roeder to bring her son up to meet his dad for the first time.
“I know you have a no-contact order between you and Mrs. Roeder that I issued — and I am not changing that,” Wolf said. “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.”
As the husband and wife shed tears, Wolf handed out tissues.
“If you all aren’t teared up, then you’re just heartless,” she said after the couple left the courtroom.
“It wasn’t really a judge thing,” she told WDRB. “I think it was just more of a human thing. He hadn’t met his baby. And I could see that his wife wanted him to see the baby. And I know from previous interactions from Mr. Roeder that he had been very concerned about being able to meet his baby prior to it being born. And I just saw an opportunity that I didn’t want to squander.”
The Roeders are accused of breaking into a warehouse and stealing six flat screen televisions in February.
You can watch video of Wolf chastising jailers for letting an inmate go without a jail uniform and sanitary products here.
