Judge Jerri Collins of Seminole County, Florida jailed an unnamed domestic violence victim for having missed a jury trial to convict her ex-boyfriend of choking her and threatening her in front of their one-year-old child.

She had not turned up to the previous trial because she said that she was suffering depression and anxiety. Something which seemed to infuriate Judge Collins making her say "You think you're going to have anxiety now?" and "You haven't even seen anxiety.", ignoring the victims pleas of "I'm just not in a good place right now". She was probably scared of coming face to face with her attacker, a lot of domestic abuse victims are and she was suffering depression from it, in fact, she may have had a form of PTSD.

Even if under state law she HAD to be punished for missing the previous trial she could have been given a small fine or community service, but instead Judge Collins made light of the mental illness she had developed from her abuse and threw the book at her.

This was in itself a form of abuse and may discourage other victims from going to the police or court.

She has punished the victim, causing her further distress and discouraged other victims from coming forward. Please have her removed from office or at the very least she should receive mandatory training in mental health and its effect on domestic violence victims.

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