HAMTRAMCK, Mich. – A district judge in Michigan is apologizing to a man she berated last week for having overgrown weeds on his property.
Judge Alexis G. Krot went viral on social media after she slammed a 72-year-old cancer patient for violating a city ordinance.
Krot told Burhan Chowdhury he should be “ashamed” of himself for letting weeds and overgrowth take over a portion of his property.
“You should be ashamed of yourself. If I could give you jail time on this I would,” Krot said in the virtual courtroom meeting.
Krot went full scorched-earth when Chowdhury tried to explain the situation saying “do you see that photo? That is shameful. Shameful. The neighbors should not have to look at that,” before telling him once again that he “should be ashamed” of himself.
KSAT sister station WDIV obtained a press release from Krot that included an apology stating, in part, “I apologize to the person who appeared before me and to our entire community for having failed to meet the high standards we expect of our judicial officers and that I expect of myself.”
Krot also said she reported herself to the Judicial Tenure Commission.
“When someone appears before me and has made a mistake, I expect them to own up to it. I expect nothing less of 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.”
Chowdhury received an outpouring of support on social media after the initial incident.
He told Krot at the time that he had been receiving cancer treatments and said “I am a cancer patient, very old ma’am... I was then very weak.”
Chowdhury’s son also appeared in the virtual courtroom and said he usually takes care of yard maintenance but was out of the country at the time and explained that the weeds had been taken care of.
The viral video garnered 200K signatures for a petition to have Krot removed as a judge, according to WDIV.