Recently, a 72-year-old cancer patient named Burhan Chowdhury attended a Zoom court appearance before Judge Alexis Krot. The court appearance was due to the unkempt alley behind his home. There were overgrown weeds and brush that should have been removed.

During the court appearance, Chowdhury explained to the judge that the reason he did not clean up the brush was because he is “very sick” and has cancer. His son attended the Zoom court session with him to try to help explain to the judge why the brush was not cleared up, but the judge showed no sympathy.

Instead of understanding that Chowdhury was too sick to clean up the brush, she humiliated him and threatened him with jail time. Watch the video below to see the judge’s behavior for yourself and to hear the reaction from Chowdhury’s son who was helping him during the court appearance.

Over 233,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to “remove Alexis Krot as a judge!” As a reaction to this petition, Krot has issued an apology. In a statement, she explained, “I made a mistake. I acted intemperately. I’m very embarrassed that I did so. I apologize to the person who appeared before me and to our entire community for having failed to meet the high standards that we expect of our judicial officers, and that I expect of myself.”

Krot added, “When someone appears before me and has made a mistake, I expect them to own up to it. I expect nothing less than myself. No ifs, ands or buts: That is the reason I self reported my behavior to the judicial tenure commission. I had no legal duty to report myself to the commission. But I did so because, like apologizing to the community, it was the right thing to do. I will continue to hold myself to the standards I set for others.”

Do you think Krot is truly apologetic? Do you think the fine should have been waived for Chowdhury since he was too sick to remove the brush in the alley?