LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Judge Amber Wolf teared up in her Louisville, Kentucky courtroom Friday after watching an inmate meet his newborn son for the first time.
WDRB shared video of the touching moment. Wolf had just wrapped up a hearing for defendant James Roeder and was about to start a hearing for his wife, Ashley.
Ashley Roeder was holding the couple’s 1-month-old baby.
“I saw her try to hold the baby up when he came out for his case to be called with his attorney,” Wolf said.
Wolf suddenly realized James Roeder had never met his son. WDRB reports she asked Ashley Roeder if she would like her husband to meet the baby. She said yes, so Wolf called her husband back into the courtroom.
“Don’t say anything about your case. Your lawyer is not present right now,” Wolf told James Roeder. “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?”
“Yes ma’am,” James Roeder replied.
“I know you have a no-contact order between you and Mrs. Roeder that I issued, and I am not changing that,” said Wolf. “I’m making a temporary exception right in front of me, on the record, so that you can meet this baby. This is your son.”
That’s when Ashley Roeder approached him and handed the baby off to James Roeder.
Wolf teared up during the touching moment. After giving the family a few moments together, James Roeder was escorted from the courtroom.
“It was touching,” Roeder told WDRB. “I think it was, not as a judge, but just as person, it was probably one of the best things I’ve ever done. It made me feel good.”