Heartbreaking moment judge recognises old classmate in courtroom dock

Saddening footage captured the moment a judge recognised her old classmate in court for burglary charges - but she made a surprising admission about the suspect.

Judge Mindy Glazer appeared to have the shock of her life, when she noticed a familiar face sitting across from her in the docks back in 2015.

Rewind a decade or two at Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach, she was working hard to fulfil her dream of going to law school.

But sat across from her was Arthur Booth, exceptional at maths and science, with ambitions of becoming a neurosurgeon.

Never did the two think that they would encounter each other again, especially not in this way.

“Did you go to Nautilus for middle school?” Judge Glazer asked 49-year-old Booth at the time.

“Oh my goodness,” the suspect repeatedly blurted out, as he broke into a flood of tears.

The judge added: “I'm sorry to see you and I always wondered what happened to you.”

But upon learning more about Booth, she realised it was more surprising that the two hadn’t met sooner, given his lengthy criminal history.

As Judge Glazer addressed the court, she made a surprising admission about Booth.

She said: “This was the nicest kid in middle school.

“He was the best kid in middle school.

Arthur Booth broke into tears when he recognised who the judge was (A&E Channel)

“I used to play football with him. Look what has happened.”

After serving 10 months in jail, ordered by Judge Glazer, the familiar judge stood with his family as he exited the prison.

“Take care of your family. Try to get a job. Stay clean,” she told him before adding: “You're going to do something good for somebody else.”

The former convict replied: “You better believe it. You better believe it.”

The judge gave Booth some words of advice when he was released from prison (A&E Channel)

But it seems the judge’s words of wisdom weren’t properly taken on board, because fast-forward decades later, and Booth has spent almost half his entire adult life behind bars.

He has been in and out of prison since he was 17, and his family said it was allegedly gambling and drugs that led to him serving time behind bars.

Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2015, his family claimed: “It just took over his life.

“He didn't have a job so the only way to get money was to steal.

“He would break into warehouses or empty homes.”

They added: “He just needed money quickly and that was how he got it.”

Despite Judge Glazer’s wise words, his family admitted that ‘nothing anyone said to him made a difference’.