A judge lashed out at a single mother for making her daughter a peanut butter and jelly sandwich during a Zoom court hearing on a charge of being the passenger in the car with an open intoxicant.
During her 9 a.m. appearance on the misdemeanor charge, mother Asja Outerbridge started slathering bread with peanut butter and jelly for her 3 year-old daughter-- and the judge wasn't having it.
Stop! Put your proper dress on ... Is that a robe? No, we can’t talk at the same time. Put whatever you’re trying to prepare down,” Judge Sean Perkins said to Outerbridge during the hearing in 36th District Court in Detroit. She explained that her daughter was home sick -- adding "I have on clothes!" -- but he wasn't soothed.
“I’m sorry that your daughter is sick, but again, you’re in court,” the judge added.
For her part, Outerbrige, who works as a fashion stylist, says she blames herself for what happened. See the video HERE.
“Actually, I’m a personal stylist, so I know how to present myself, but that day, you know, it’s hard for moms out here. I’m not gonna lie," she told media. "I took, ‘Miss Outerbridge, are you wearing a robe?’ and I turned that into a transition of what you would wear to court. And I showed different outfits you could wear to court, how you can present yourself and how you cannot be caught slacking in a robe eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, OK? Because you don’t wanna do that, that’s, that’s not a good idea.”
The story went viral in the national media, with thousands of people commenting on the video of the judge chastising the defendant.
"So you dress nice for a tv interview but not for court?" one person wrote under the video on "Inside Edition." Stephen Gonzalez added on Facebook, "Times like that you have to be prepared to have your kids snacks, food, tv, iPad, coloring book, favorite toy, everything before court. And then you dressed up for the tv interview and not court?"
Still, another noted "the judge was wearing a robe too."