LAS VEGAS (AP) — Moments after a defendant in a felony battery case tried to convince a Nevada judge that he was turning his violent past around and didn’t need to be locked up, his sentencing went sideways: He leaped over a defense table and the judge’s bench, landing atop her and sparking a bloody brawl with court officials and attorneys.
The violent scene on Wednesday was captured by courtroom video showing Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus falling back from her seat against a wall as the defendant flung himself over the judge’s bench and grabbed her hair, toppling an American flag onto them. The judge suffered some injuries but was not hospitalized, courthouse officials said.
The defendant, Deobra Delone Redden, was jailed on $54,000 bail and refused to return to court on Thursday on new charges, so a judge rescheduled his next appearance for Jan. 9. Redden, 30, faces 13 counts including extortion and coercion with force. Seven of the new counts are battery on a protected person, referring to the judge and officers who came to her aid.
Redden had to be wrestled off the judge Wednesday by several court and jail officers and courtroom staff members — including some who were seen throwing punches. One courtroom marshal was hospitalized for treatment of a bleeding gash on his forehead and a dislocated shoulder.
“It happened so fast it was hard to know what to do,” said Richard Scow, the chief county district attorney, who was prosecuting Redden for allegedly attacking a person with a baseball bat last year.
Redden’s sentencing was not immediately rescheduled.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said the suspect’s criminal record is marked by mostly violent offenses and includes prior convictions for three felonies and nine misdemeanors. He said Redden should be held without bail as “an extreme danger to the community and a flight risk.”
“He’s been violent his entire adult life,” Wolfson said.
Redden’s defense attorney on Wednesday, Caesar Almase, declined to comment Thursday.
At the sentencing hearing, Redden wasn’t shackled or in jail garb because he had been released from custody as part of a deal with prosecutors, in which he pleaded guilty in November to a reduced charge of attempted battery resulting in substantial injuries. He was initially charged in the baseball bat attack with assault with a deadly weapon, court records show.
On Wednesday, he wore a white shirt and dark pants as he stood next to his attorney and asked the judge for leniency while describing himself as “a person who never stops trying to do the right thing no matter how hard it is.“
“I’m not a rebellious person,” he told the judge, later adding that he doesn’t think he should be sent to prison. “But if it’s appropriate for you, then you have to do what you have to do.”
As the judge made it clear she intended to put him behind bars, and the court marshal moved to handcuff him and take him into custody, Redden yelled expletives and charged forward — amid screams from people who had been sitting with him in the courtroom audience, including his foster mother.
Records show Redden, who lives in Las Vegas, was evaluated and found competent to stand trial in the battery case before pleading guilty to the reduced charge. He previously served prison time in Nevada on a domestic battery conviction, records show.
Holthus was a career prosecutor with more than 27 years of courthouse experience when she was elected to the state court bench in 2018.