I ♥ Ola

Brunswick County Superior Court Judge Ola Lewis has won the heart of a domestic violence defendant named Pollo Collazo – and her husband’s not too happy about the development.

Apparently, Collazo was so thankful that Lewis placed him into a therapy program that he got her first name tattooed on his neck.

“According to this young man, he got the tattoo because I was instrumental in changing his life for the better,” Lewis said. “Since he’s gotten the tattoo he looks in the mirror every morning and does no wrong for the entire day.”

She added, “How true that is, I don’t know. But it makes for a good story.”

Collazo covered up the tattoo by wearing a collared shirt when he appeared in Lewis’ court, she said. But a probation officer later texted her a photo of the tribute. Afterward, Lewis said she contacted the Judicial Standards Commission and asked whether Collazo could continue to appear in her court.

“I was informed that as long as I did not encourage him to get my name tattooed on his neck or order him to do anything like that it would not pose a conflict,” she said. “I also told him that this was not a get-out-of-jail-free tattoo and I have since ordered other defendants not to follow suit.”

This was the first time that the Judicial Standards Commission had received a report about a defendant tattooing a judge’s name on his or her body, Lewis said. She told the story to a group of judges from around the country who gathered in Washington recently for a convention on therapeutic courts and said they also had never heard of anything like this happening before.

Lewis’ significant other was not impressed.

“I can tell you my husband’s not happy with it. Not at all,” she said. “But the D.A. reminded me that it could be worse. He could have had it tattooed some place else.”

While speaking on the phone with Lawyers Weekly, Lewis pulled Collazo’s file (she deals with many defendants and was unsure about the charges that led him to her court) and seemed taken aback by what she found.

He’d been arrested for assault by strangulation on a female and fleeing to elude arrest.

“How scary!” Lewis said. Then she laughed uncomfortably. But she later added that Collazo is still participating in the therapy program and “happens to be doing quite well.”

If anyone was wondering, Lewis said she doesn’t have any tattoos.

“I grew up with a command sergeant major,” she explained.