Judge Orders Lawyer to Apologize for Courthouse Bear Hug
A Massachusetts judge has ordered a lawyer to write a letter of apology to a colleague for giving her a courthouse jail hug.
Robert LeBlanc had been charged with assault and battery in the November 2008 incident in a Lawrence courthouse lobby. At a hearing on Friday, Judge Timothy Gailey of Woburn placed LeBlanc on six months of pretrial probation and made the letter a condition of his probation, the Eagle Tribune reports.
Lawyer Pamela Saia-Rogers told police that LeBlanc had grabbed her from behind, wrapped his arms around her midsection, pulled her tightly to him, and said, “Isn’t she a beautiful Republican?” LeBlanc was deputy legal counsel for the Massachusetts Democratic Party and the incident occurred two weeks after Barack Obama’s election.
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor said the case will be placed back on the trial list if LeBlanc violates probation.
