this is "nightline." >> tonight -- he is the tough love judge winning praise for his creative approach to making sure justice is served. why some paying an unusual price for crime tell us they're thankful. but is public shaming an eye for an eye? >> plus, hulk hogan's racial slur scandal. his signature move helped land him in the wwe hall of fame. but when he was caught using the n word, the wrestling star was erased from the records. tonight he is breaking his silence, getting candid about the backlash. >> and the serena slam. fresh off her victory at wimbledon, ms. williams defending her crown at the u.s. open setting her sights on the

grand slam. tonight she talks making history and why she is not done yet. >> first the "nightline" five. >> if you are suffering from irregulari irregularity, for gentle overnight relief dulcolax tablets. gentle overnight relief. unlike miralax, designed for dependable relief. >> when pain goes deep, i use salonpas gel. it races three pain fighters deep into my muscles. >> salonpas, powerful relief when and where you need it. >> number

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a tough talking small town judge make the cut? well the one you are about to meet is not your average gavel banging magistrate, a unique way of dispensing justice to people who show up in his courtroom. as it turns out it is shockingly successful. here is abc's t.j. holmes. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: he is the kind of judge no one can forget. >> all rise, please. >> be seated. on august 6th, probation violation, entered a plea of not guilty. >> does that mean i still can't drink on probation? >> really? really? you really asked that question when i, when i just said, i don't think he has an alcohol problem. did you take your dumb pills today? >> reporter: the judge of painesville, ohio or judge chick, sees 30, 40 cases a day. his unique method of sentencing turned him into a viral sensation.

>> an ohio judge defending an unusual punishment. >> gave one teen a punishment she will never forget. >> 1-year-old victoria takes a cab ride, stiffs the driver in the end. >> the teenager who skipped out on a cab fare to a long walk of shame. >> reporter: a few months ago one of the sentences got international attention when 1-year-old victoria baskin was given a choice. spend 30 days in jail or walk 30 miles. >> i have never been to jail. i thought i would have to go pay a fine. like $100. >> reporter: when did the idea pop in, you know what i will do is make her walk? >> it came to me. i asked her. if you didn't have a cab, what would you do? she said walk. let's make her walk 30 miles. i gave her the choice of 30 days in jail or 30 miles. >> i end up almost getting jail time. lucky he gave me this option. >> reporter: this creative sentencing is not new to the

judge. he has been doing it for years. >> very humiliated. >> reporter: after arrest ford soliciting a prostitute this man chose public humiliation over jail time. >> is this tough enough punishment that you are never going to do something like this again? >> absolutely. >> reporter: this teen stole porn from an adult bookstore? >> i'm thankful the judge gave me an opportunity instead of a jail time. >> reporter: this woman caught on tape, walking into a burger king and pepper spraying one of the workers in the face. her sentence the judge gave the defendant a choice, either serve time or get sprayed herself with what she thought was paper spray. >> you couldn't use the real pepper spray, you can injure. >> bucking head with law professors when i use pepper spray now cruel and unusual. >> reporter: did the victim get the vengeance in that case given the wasn't real pepper spray? >> may not be what you wanted. all that i could do as law permits. >> reporter: scared the hell out of the defendant?

>> yes. served its purpose. this is your one chance. >> reporter: judge chick may be on to something. >> a judge can simply follow the law and if somebody commit aid crime, here are the possible penalties how much of those, how much of that do i impose? sure, you can do that. you go home. and, you can rest easy. or, you can take each case a little more personal. and still apply that same law. >> reporter: the rates of repeat offenders are much lower in his courtroom than the national average. >> when you talk state prisons, federal prisons. their problems started way back here with my court. with municipal courts. with the minor offenses. most people don't start out with a felony case. we have to stop them from going further at the beginning stages. otherwise that escalates. they get in jail. they get smarter. smarter criminally. and as they get smarter criminally, the offenses become greater. >> reporter: on the docket.

two cases. one involving a bicycle theft. and the other a case that hit close to home for the judge. >> as a pet owner, he was extremely upset about how alyssa morrow treated her pit bull mix. this is how animal control found moose. in a house that could only be described as belonging to a hoarder. morrow left him there for just a week. she is in court today pleading guilty to animal neglect and cruelty. >> i can't interpret the feelings of a dog. boy if dogs could tell you how they felt. >> abandoned. >> yeah, scared. frightened. and sick. maybe you should get a little taste of that. but i am going to let you have a choice here. the choice is i want you to live like moose. in order to do that. i want you to go to the county dump. to the land fill. i want them to fine the stinkiest, smelliest, god awful odor place in that dump. i want you to sit there for eight hours tomorrow. just think what you did to that

dog while you smell the odor. if you puke, you puke. understand? >> reporter: morrow has the the choice of doing this alternative sentence or spend 90 days in jail. she agrees to go to the dump. >> i will do it. >> okay. see you at the dump tomorrow. we'll got to the dump later. but first the case of the disappearing bike. the defendant, jordan walsh, showed up with his mother. >> all right, jordan, you stole a bike. walked into the garage. took a bike. and rode it. >> your honor, i know mr. walsh takes full responsibility for this. >> for the punishment to get your attention it is not to be done again. as i always do. you are going to have the choice of 60 days in jail, you can aindividual that by ten days of community work service. you stole the bike and rode a bike. that's what you are going to do here in the parade. >> reporter: the judge made him an offer he can't refuse. he ordered walsh to ride a bike on behalf of a local charity in

a parade the following week. >> are you worried about going to jail. 60 days. when i heard that my heart dropped. >> reporter: the guy that got his bike stolen is surprisingly supportive. >> i didn't want the kid's life to be ruined. because he stole a bike. he need to pay for what he did. embarrass him a little bit. better than him sitting in jail. >> reporter: he rode the bike all along the parade route. >> i think it is better than going to jail. because i could show people that i can do better in my community. >> reporter: for alyssa morrow her second chance came the day after court at local dump. she was given the ironic job of picking up garbage. >> girl, not the best outfit choice. >> i know. i should have thought about it. >> i couldn't find my shoes i was running late. >> for the next eight hours, morrow must spend her day like

moose, spending close to a week in filth. >> i would rather be here than jail. i can't complain. >> reporter: the good news, moose is recouperating wonderfully and is now up for adoption. for "nightline," t.j. holmes in painesville, ohio. up next, why celebrity friend like dwayne the rock johnson are rushing to defend hulk hogan after his devastating racial slur scandal. plus, we are with serena williams going for the grand at the u.s. open. ♪ o a rheumatologist about a biologic, this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me reach for more. doctors have been prescribing humira for more than 10 years. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contrubutes to ra symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections,

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slurp. mmmmmm. cinnamon. milk. cinna-milk. cinnamon toast crunch. crunch! crave those crazy squares. cinna-milk! no matter what you think about hulk hogan, controversial athlete, actor, headline making reality tv star, the guy was a game changer in the world of professional wrestling. tonight in the midst of a racial slur scandal he is fighting to repair his legacy opening up exclusively to abc's amy robach, about the fallout and path to forgiveness. >> reporter: with his signature leg drop, horseshoe mustache and

unrivalled strength. 12 time world champion, hulk hogan single-handedly transformed wrest nooing into a phenomenon. he is fighting outside the ring to maintain his legacy. the man behind the once indestructible hulkster legislate his guard down. >> out of everything that i have been through this one hit me probably the hardest. a heck of a thing to say. because i have been through a lot of crazy stuff. >> reporter: including admission of steroid use and his son's legal issues. but last month, a new controversy which threatens to erase his legacy, the "national enquirer" reports that hogan used racial slurs in awedy secretly recorded. >> i was at the lowest point of my life. my personal life was destroyed. i was very mad at my daughter. i was upset over a situation that happened between her and her boyfriend. i had no idea i was being taped.

i was to the point where i wanted to kill myself. sat in the bathroom, by myself. ex-wife was gone. kids were gone. i was broken, destroyed. and what's the easiest way out of this i was lost. >> reporter: you were suicidal? >> i was. >> father's day card. >> reporter: a contrast from the hulk whose upbeat tight-knit family was portrayed on "hogan knows best" where he was overprotective of his only daughter, brook. >> i am all most 18. i haven't had a buy friend yet. >> according to the "national enquirer" he refers to his daughter's then boyfriend using the n word. do you have any personal preference who ethnically your daughter sdmats. >> -- dates? >> no, i don't. the guy my daughter was dating. i liked him a lot. i had known him for a while. i was very mad at a personal situation that happened with my daughter. >> are you a racist? >> no, i am not.

i am not a racist. i never should have said what i said. it was wrong. i am embarrassed by it. a lot of people need to real i that even hearing things from the environment, where i grew up was south tampa, it was a really rough neighborhood. very low income. and all of my friend, we greeted each other saying that word, we teased each other with that word. the word was thrown around like it was nothing. >> reporter: is it fair to say that you inherited a racial bias? >> i would say that is very fair. but you can break the cycle. and that's what everybody need to know. you can break the cycle and become a better person become who you are meant to be instead of who you are supposed to be. >> reporter: following the allegations the wwe fired him. the legendary career he spent a lifetime building wiped out. >> i was totally shocked. because i have worked with the wwe for almost 30 years off and on. then awfulll of a sudden everyt

i had done. it never happened. >> reporter: image. likeness, erased. >> look i never existed. >> that had to hurt? >> my gosh, devastating. it destroyed me. i just, i don't know how to say it other than that. my whole life. >> reporter: many industry big wigs have come to his defense. dwayne the rock johnson states, i have known terry for a lot of years. i had not known the man to be racist. george foreman says, i do not condone the language he used, but he is no racist. he is a good guy. even hogan's daughter, brook chimes in. >> reporter: your daughter posted a beautiful poem on facebook. if you knew the dad i knew you'd know he raised me well. he taught me folks are so much more than shade could ever tell. >> yeah. and if anybody should have disowned me it should have been her. you know? she should have been the one. she should have been the one to

throw me out like the trash. but instead she showed me more love than anybody. >> reporter: what did brook say to you? >> well, can we stop for a second? all right. okay. >> reporter: how has brook helped you through this? >> she has been so supportive. she was the direction of my attack. you know? i was not so mad at her boyfriend the i was mad at her. you know? and she, she instantly said i don't need to forgive you. i am not mad at you. i love you. you're my dad. >> reporter: for fans who feel let down by you? do you ask their forgiveness? >> oh, my gosh, please forgive me. please forgive me. i am a nice guy. not the hulk hogan that rips the shirt off and slams giants. >> reporter: the hulk whose worth is between $8 and 15 million is embattled in a landmark $100 million lawsuit against gawker after they posted

a two minute graphic excerpt of an unauthorized sex tape. his lawyer -- >> this has everything to do with the invasion of privacy of a private citizen for no good cause other than for them to make money. >> reporter: gawker maintains the tape is news worthy given hogan talks often about his sex life. for now the man once known for super human strength is relying on his inner power wrestling with turning this negative into a positive. >> just because a person makes a mistake just don't throw them away. you don't throw good people away. if everybody at their lowest point was judged on one thing they said, all of a sudden your whole career was wiped out because of something you said, 10, 20 years ago. that would be a sad world. people get better every day. people get better. >> for "nightline," amy robach in new york. up next, for some one with a

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fresh off her first night defend herring crown at u.s. open, you would think serena williams would feel the pressure as she chases one of the last titles eluding her. the calendar slam. tonight she tells abc's rob robin roberts, success now seems to come easier than ever. >> reporter: serena williams, back to defend her u.s. open crown? how do you keep it all together? >> it is really easy. i don't feel pressure to win

here the i feel look i want to win here probably more than anybody. at the same time i don't feel that pressure. >> i was there when you won the first one. you came on "good morning america." >> it is really exciting. i actually want out and made history first african-american to win in 41 years. the moment of holding the trophy was everything for me. >> reporter: though much celebrated serena has been the victim of body shaming comments. >> you embraced it and said it is my body. >> it is me. i love me. i learned to love me. i love that i am a full woman and strong and powerful and beautiful. at the same time. there is nothing wrong with that. i have too many thing to do. i have grand slams to win. i have people to inspire. and that's what i'm here for. >> speaking of that. new york magazine. those pictures were slamming. is it done for you to be able to show that side of you that we all don't always get to see? >> it was fun. i do a lot of things off the

court the i don't just play tins. >> reporter: there is no acing serena when it comes to talking about her private life. especially concerning recent rumors of let's say a mixed doubles partner off the court. >> anybody that we might recognize other than family in your box here at the open? >> venus will be there. yeah, we'll see. >> i tried my best. that was pretty good though. you got to admit. >> our thank to robin roberts. thank you for watching abc news. tunen to "good morning america" tomorrow. as always we are online 24/7 on our "nightline" facebook page and abcnews.com. good night, america.

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