By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, July 11, 2016
Atlanta's Glenda Hatchett, best known as a TV judge for many years in syndication, will represent the family of Philando Castile, the Minneapolis man shot by an police officer. The death was captured by his girlfriend on Facebook Live.
Hatchett is part of The Hatchett Firm .
“I am deeply concerned about what seems to be an epidemic of African-American men being killed by police officers," said Judge Hatchett in a press release. "We have often seemed demonstrations and debates and I raise the critical question, ‘When will there be systemic reform?’ Reform such that, citizens are not in fear of their lives when stopped and questioned by the police." The family with Hatchett are planning a press conference Tuesday.
Hatchett's TV show aired in syndication from 2000 until 2008 after airing 1,130 episodes and winning two Emmys. She said in an interview last year that she walked away voluntarily. She started her own production company at the time but couldn't get anything going.
In 2015, she announced a new judge show set to debut in the fall of 2016. When I interviewed her last year, she said she hadn't fully formed the concept.
"I am at a point where I can take this on," she told me. "I'm an empty nester. [She has two grown sons.]. I have flexibility to do this. I'll have a lot of autonomy with this project. I'm really excited."
But no details of that show has come out since that announcement. I don't get the impression the show has been cleared for the fall of 2016 because I can't find any new information about it online.
Before her time on TV, Hatchett served eight years as former Chief Judge of the Juvenile Court of Fulton County.
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