Bailiff Byrd

Petri Hawkins-Byrd (born Petri Adonis Byrd; November 29, 1957, in Brooklyn, New York), better known as Bailiff Byrd or simply Byrd, is an American court show bailiff, television personality, social media personality, actor, voice actor, writer, and former New York State Court Officer.

Byrd is best known for his sidekick role as Bailiff Byrd for the entire series run–totaling 25 seasons–of Nielsen top-rated courtroom television program Judge Judy.

From his stint on Judge Judy, Byrd is television's longest court show bailiff in history.

Petri Adonis Byrd was born on November 29, 1957, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Taking to comedy and impressions from an early age, Byrd's father thought he was so entertaining and amusing as a child that he and his friends frequently called Byrd up from prison just so they could hear him imitate celebrities.

Growing up, Byrd admired and imitated such celebrities as Flip Wilson, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Ed Sullivan, Bill Cosby and others.

Meanwhile, Byrd's stay-at-home mother held their family together.

Byrd has described his mother as a strict disciplinarian who was insistent about her children achieving their education and treating people with respect.

Of his childhood, Byrd has stated, "My escapes were going to school, reading, television and movies—anything that would take me out of the world I was in and put me in a world that could be."

After graduating from Eastern District High School in Brooklyn, Byrd attended Hostos Community College in The Bronx.

Although drawn to the idea of acting, Byrd had also taken an interest in law while growing up.

His interest in law emanated from his awareness of active Jim Crow laws and the civil rights movement during his youth, desiring to revolutionize racially discriminatory practices.

With that, he started work as a court officer for the Brooklyn circuit of the New York City court system in the early 1980s.

In 1986 he was transferred to the family court division in Manhattan while also attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

It was in this capacity that Byrd met Judge Judy Sheindlin, who was the Supervising Family Court Judge for Manhattan.

From 1986 through 1989, Byrd worked in the Manhattan family court system as a courtroom officer on a rotating basis for varying judges, Sheindlin among many others.

Recounting the times he was assigned to function as Sheindlin's bailiff in the Manhattan family court system, Byrd commented, "I was never bored in her courtroom. Her get-to-the-point style didn't always sit well with the litigants, and there were times she was definitely glad to have me around."

In 1989, Byrd obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from John Jay College.

That same year, Byrd's personal life changed radically: he and his wife, Felicia, separated and she moved with the couple's children to California.

The couple tried to get their marriage back on track by participating in cross-country relationship counseling for five months.

A year later in 1990, Byrd moved to San Mateo, California to reunite with his family and reconcile with his wife.

There, he accepted a job as a Special Deputy U.S. Marshall.

In 1992, Byrd made another career transition, becoming a student counselor at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California, remaining in this profession until 1996.

As a side job during this time, Byrd also delivered pizzas.

In 1995, Byrd read a news article in a Liz Smith column about Sheindlin's new book, Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining, as well as her then upcoming television court show project to be filmed in Los Angeles.

He subsequently wrote Sheindlin a congratulatory letter, stating: "If you ever need a bailiff, my uniform still fits."

After Sheindlin was feeling lack of chemistry between her and the test actor who performed as bailiff in her pilot episode, she phoned Byrd to offer him the role as bailiff in her courtroom series, which he accepted.

Byrd added "Hawkins" to his name when he joined the Judge Judy program as a salute to his late mother; Hawkins was her maiden name.

In the program, Sheindlin referred to him simply as "Byrd," or less frequently "Officer Byrd."

Byrd ended up performing as Judge Judy program bailiff for its entire series run of 25 seasons (1996-2021), making him the longest serving television court show bailiff in history.

Judge Judy remained the number 1 Nielsen-rated court show for its entire series run.

In addition, the court show scored highest in daytime and syndication ratings for much of its first run, and won 3 Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program.

In the series, Byrd took the role of Sheindlin's typically apathetic and lightly surly courtroom bailiff, as one who did not hesitate to assume a menacing presence with litigants when Sheindlin needed extra reinforcement.

Byrd's main role in the series constituted introducing the cases (calling the parties forward, swearing the litigants, directing the courtroom audience when to rise and be seated, delivering the docket number and handing Sheindlin the case files), delivering materials between the judge and the litigants, dismissing the parties, and escorting them out once the case was complete.

Opening and closing out the proceedings, each Judge Judy case began with Byrd making the statement of "Order! All Rise!"

and ended with him stating, "Parties are excused. You may step out."

(this was later changed in the final season to "This case has concluded, parties are excused").

Since October 2018, Byrd along with his wife, Makita Bond, have hosted their Facebook/YouTube talk show-like series entitled "Bonding with Byrd", with a new installment released for every Tuesday.

It was announced in April 2022 that Byrd will return to the court show genre, resuming his televised bailiff duties in the upcoming panel-based spin-off courtroom series, Tribunal Justice.

The series is created by Judy Sheindlin and her personal production team and will feature a 3-judge panel.