Judge Holds Back Tears After Permitting Inmate To Meet His One-Month-Old Baby For The First Time

Jefferson District Court Judge Amber Wolf allowed inmate James Roeder to meet his one-month old son that he had never met in her courtroom recently. The judge in Louisville, KY, had just finished Roeder’s hearing and was about to begin her next hearing for Roeder’s wife, Ashley. The couple are facing burglary charges in the same case and have been ordered to have no contact with one another.

But Judge Wolf decided to make an exception in the courtroom because of their newborn baby son. The judge spotted Ashley trying to hold up the infant when Roeder came out for his case and realized that he had not seen his one-month-old baby and wasn’t going to get a chance to do so anytime in the near future, according to WDRB. That’s when she arranged for him to meet his son.




Judge Wolf provided Roeder with clear instructions while he stood in front of her at the podium:

“I don’t want you to say anything about your case at all. Don’t say anything. Your lawyer is not present right now. But I understand that there is a chance that you’re going to go back to Todd County, and your baby is a month old, and you haven’t met that baby yet. Is that right?” she asked him.

“Yes, maam,” James responded.

“I am making a temporary exception…” she said. “Mrs. Roeder, do you want to come up here?”

Ashley came forward and held out their baby, at which point Roeder got to hold the baby boy for a minute. The new father was in tears when he held his son.

The people in the courtroom teared as well, witnessing the tender moment. “If you all aren’t teared up, then you’re just heartless,” Judge Wolf told those in the courtroom after handing out tissues. Laughter could be heard in the video to her comments.




Following both hearings, Judge Wold told WDRB, “It wasn’t really a judge thing. I think it was just more of a human thing.”

That’s certainly not something usually seen in a court of law. Share this story with your family and friends!

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