Judge Stephen Yekel, 74, was found dead on Tuesday in his own courtroom

Summary

Judge Stephen Yekel, 74, died by suicide in his courtroom on his last day in office after losing a re-election bid.

He was found Tuesday morning at Effingham County State Courthouse, with investigators believing the incident occurred late Monday or early Tuesday.

Yekel, appointed in 2022, had recently attempted to resign but was denied by Governor Brian Kemp.

He was also facing a wrongful termination lawsuit from a former court employee.

    • Flying Squid
      -1•5 days ago

      Would you say the same thing if a judge was raped?

        • Flying Squid
          -1•5 days ago

          That’s not an answer. If we should be punching up when bad things happen to judges, why does that not apply to things that are crimes?

          • @[email protected]English
            2•5 days ago

            I still think we should punch up for some crimes. It depends on the crime.

            But in this case, there’s clearly no reason not to punch up, because this person is not a victim.

            • Flying Squid
              -1•5 days ago

              But in this case, there’s clearly no reason not to punch up, because this person is not a victim.

              I’ve given the reason multiple times. I will give it again. And I will say again that I know this from personal experience, but that doesn’t seem to matter to anyone:

              Someone on the edge sees a bunch of people mocking a suicide and thinks, “this is what it will be like when I’m gone, no one will give a shit except to laugh at me.” And it drives them closer to the edge themselves. (They don’t think, incidentally, “well that guy’s a judge so they’ll mock a judge, but they definitely wouldn’t do the same with me even though I’m even more worthless and despicable than that judge.”)

              I very sincerely hope suicide will not be something you will have to deal with in your life.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines

                • Flying Squid
                  0•5 days ago

                  And I very clearly said:

                  They don’t think, incidentally, “well that guy’s a judge so they’ll mock a judge, but they definitely wouldn’t do the same with me even though I’m even more worthless and despicable than that judge.”

                  You see it as punching up. A person on the edge of suicide sees it as validation.

                  For the umpteenth time, I know this from personal fucking experience.

                  Jesus Christ, all these people essentially telling me “nuh-uh, I know more about how suicidal people think than you do, all you ever did was attempt suicide.” For fuck’s sake.

                  • @[email protected]English
                    -1•5 days ago

                    I can’t help if people dont read what I write. All I can do is write clearly that I’m only celebrating when bad people at the top of hierarchies are ridding the world of their abuse.