Mean Judge Reprimands Mean Judge

''Toothless, dead crack whore -- dead at age 19? Is that the destiny you're looking for?," is what Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Spencer Eig barked at a 15 year old defendant on Tuesday. The girl was in juvenile court after running away from a foster home where she claims she was...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

February 27, 2009

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''Toothless, dead crack whore -- dead at age 19? Is that the destiny you're looking for?," is what Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Spencer Eig barked at a 15 year old defendant on Tuesday. The girl was in juvenile court after running away from a foster home where she claims she was abused.

The chief juvenile court judge Cindy Lederman (the great undo-er of Florida's gay adoption ban) apologized to the girl, and promised to talk with Eig about his behavior.

Lederman, though, has been criticized for her own mean streak in the past. A 2000 New Times feature characterized her as draconian, and claimed she often told juvenile defendants that they "that they should sit down and shut up." Maybe she's softened over the years.

[Herald: 'Crack whore' comment earns juvenile judge a reprimand]

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