Kit Roberts
A defendant in court had a massive surprise when it transpired that he and the judge presiding over the trial went to the same school.
A video from the trial in 2015 has since gone viral after defendant Arthur Booth broke down in the dock when he realised that his old schoolmate was the judge presiding over the hearing.
Booth had been in the Florida court facing burglary charges. Judge Mindy Glaze paused the court, and asked the 49-year-old: "Did you go to Nautilus for middle school?"
Advert
Booth was unable to reply fully, breaking down in tears as he said repeatedly: "Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness."
Glazer continued: "I'm sorry to see you and I always wondered what happened to you."
She told the court: "This was the nicest kid in middle school. He was the best kid in middle school. I used to play football with him. Look what has happened."
But the story didn't end with the pair's chance encounter in court.
Glazer went with Booth's family to greet him when he finished his ten-month prison sentence.
She embraced her former classmate, telling him: "Take care of your family. Try to get a job. Stay clean. You're going to do something good for somebody else."
Booth replied: "You better believe it. You better believe it."
He has since spoken about how much of inspiration she is to him, telling CBS Miami: "She's an inspiration and a motivation to me right now. Mindy is incredible.
"Cause I know where I could've been, but I'm not giving up on life. It's just a new lease on life for me right now."
Glazer reminded him that while they were rooting for him, he still had to put the work in.
She said: "He had a good judge who wanted to give him a chance. This is a group effort to see you succeed. Don't let us down."
At school, Booth had been a high-grade student, even teaching himself Spanish. But at
18-years-old he was jailed for grand theft. Left without employment prospects, he became addicted to crack cocaine.
Despite spending some 15 years in and out of prison, Booth has since successfully turned his life around. He is now a manager at a pharmaceutical company in Florida.
The heartwarming story just goes to show that punishment without thought can often only serve to make things worse.
Not only is Booth's life changed immeasurably for the better, but in helping him to get his life back on track, the court has prevented what could have been another 15 years of petty crime and moving in and out of jail.
That's a win win if ever there was one.