FT. LAUDERDALE (WPLG/CNN) - A judge has stepped down from her position on Fridayafter public outcry over the way she treated a female inmate in her courtroom.
Sandra Twiggs, 59, told the judge she needed a breathing treatment, but the judge ignored her request and instead berated her.
Two days later, the woman was found dead, and her family blames the judge.
The family was in shock as they watched video of her court appearance.
"Do not say anything beyond what I am asking you, ma'am. Ma'am!" Judge Merrilee Ehrlich said.
Sandra Twiggs, in a wheelchair, suffered from asthma and COPD. She was charged with a misdemeanor after getting into a fight with her daughter.
While in bond court Sunday, she started coughing.
"Ma'am, do you need water? Just nod your head," Ehrlich said.
When Sandra Twiggs tried explaining, the judge yelled, "Ma'am, I'm not here to talk to you!"
"I need a breathing treatment," Sandra Twiggs said.
"Ma'am, I'm not here to talk to you about your breathing treatment," Ehrlich said.
The family said when she got home Monday, she was so upset, she could barely speak.
"She said, 'They treated me so bad.' And she said, 'All I wanted was some medical attention and help,'" said Anna Twiggs, her sister.
The next day, the family found her dead in her room.
Public defender Howard Finklestein wrote a letter to the chief judge at Broward County Court, saying "Judge Merrilee Ehrlich demonstrated aggressive and tyrannical behavior and revealed her lack of emotional fitness to sit on the bench."
"To see a person begging you for help and trying to you, and you treat them like a dog for what reason?" Carolyn Twiggs said.
The family believes the way the judge treated Sandra Twiggs and the night she spent in jail might have played a role in her death.
"If that judge is listening to us and looking at us, I hope you can sleep at night knowing that you killed her," Carolyn Twiggs said.
The judge will remain on the job in the family division until June 30.
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