Dolores Sheinis ordered to mental health facility by 'sweetheart' judge

Daughter says woman can be 'entertaining,' 'threatening' from moment to moment

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – There were far fewer laughs in a Broward County courtroom Friday as an 80-year-old woman made her encore appearance.

Dolores Sheinis had everyone in the courtroom laughing Thursday during her exchange with Judge John Hurley after her arrest on charges of resisting arrest and violating a restraining order against her ex-husband.

The hearing began comically enough, with Sheinis complimenting Hurley on his appearance.

"Oh, hello sweetheart, you look fantastic," Sheinis said. "Did you grow a few inches, 'cause you look taller?"

Hurley asked her how she was being treated in jail.

"It's called a very fancy name -- horrendous," she said.

But the laughs stopped when it came time for her daughter, Beth Sheinis, to speak. She said her mother has had mental issues and is capable of causing harm to herself and her ex-husband.

"She's very entertaining one moment and the next moment she's threatening to, you know, take you down," Beth Sheinis told Hurley.

Hurley said he didn't want to keep Sheinis in jail, but he also doesn't want her to get out and break her restraining order again.

Beth Sheinis pleaded with the judge to have her placed in a mental health facility, where she could be monitored.

Hurley said there were only two choices "and neither one is really good, but one is better than the other."

"The court is going to order that you be taken to the nearest Baker Act-receiving facility," Hurley ruled.

Dolores Sheinis will face a judge again once she is evaluated.

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