Former TV judge to represent family of slain Minnesota man
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A former Atlanta judge best known for her syndicated TV show is now “stepping beyond the bench” to take on her fledgling law firm’s highest-profile case: representing the family of Philando Castile, a black driver who was shot dead by a police officer in a Twin Cities suburb.
Glenda Hatchett, star of the court show “Judge Hatchett,” vowed Tuesday to sue on behalf of the family of Castile, who was shot last week after being pulled over in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights.
Hatchett, the mother of two African-American sons in their early 30s, said the case hit home and the first thing she did upon meeting Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, was give the woman a hug “as one mother to another.”
“I am now stepping beyond the bench, the other side of the bench,” she said at a news conference near the state capitol and the Cathedral of St. Paul, where the funeral for the 32-year-old school cafeteria worker will be held this week.