All You Need to Know About Petri Hawkins-Byrd

Breaking down the facts behind All You Need to Know About Petri Hawkins-Byrd—read on to discover the essential highlights.

In 1986, while studying at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Byrd was sent to Manhattan’s family court division, where he met the Supervising Family Court Judge for Manhattan, Judge Judy Sheindlin. Petri worked as a courtroom officer for various judges in the Manhattan family court system from 1986 until 1989. “I was never bored in her courtroom,” he remarked of his stint as Sheindlin’s bailiff.

Her direct attitude didn’t always sit well with the litigants, and there were occasions when she was delighted to have me around.” Byrd received his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 1989 and relocated to California the following year to reconcile with his then-wife, Felicia, where he served as a Special Deputy U.S. Marshall in San Mateo.

He began working as a student counselor at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California, in 1992 and remained there until 1996.

When Byrd learned that Sheindlin was filming a new show in Los Angeles, he wrote her a note of congratulations, adding, “If you ever need a bailiff, my uniform still fits.” Judy called Petri and offered him the post, which he took from 1996 until 2021. Petri added “Hawkins” to his name after being cast on the show in memory of his late mother. Over the course of 25 seasons, “Judge Judy” broadcast 6,280 episodes and received multiple Daytime Emmy nominations and three victories. Judy became the highest-paid individual on television during the show’s latter seasons, with her compensation regularly exceeding $50 million.

Hawkins-Byrd’s compensation on “Judge Judy” is unknown, however, it is known that he was paid on a per-episode basis rather than an annual wage. Assume he earned $5,000 per episode based on comparable wages from other daytime television stars. That works out to about $1.2 million for each 250-episode season. If he was paid $1,000 per episode, he would have received $250,000 per season.

Interestingly, Petri was not requested to be a bailiff on Sheindlin’s Amazon show “Judy Justice,” and when he inquired as to why, Judy informed him that his salary was not budgeted.