Suffolk Superior Court judge’s ruling in a child molestation decision provokes controversy.

Judge Maria Lopez sentences transsexual Charles “Ebony” Horton to home confinement and five years probation, but no jail time, for sexually molesting an 11-year-old Dorchester boy. In addition to the controversy caused by the sentence, Lopes generates even more by telling the prosecutor of the case, assistant district attorney Leora Joseph, “You’re a mean person. You belong in the suburbs.” After a committee recommends that she be suspended for her conduct, Lopez resigns on May 19, 2003.