Man convicted of battery leaps over defense table and attacks judge, Nevada video shows

As if to prove the point of the felony battery charge against him, the defendant lunged at the Nevada judge.

In a video released of the sentencing hearing by the Las Vegas Review Journal the same day – Jan. 3 – Deobra Delone Redden can be seen leaping over the defense table and the judge’s bench and landing on top of Judge Mary Kay Holthus. Several jail officers and courtroom staff members then wrestle him to the floor.

In the moments before Redden’s outburst, Holthus, a Clark County District judge, was sentencing him on an aggravated battery charge, according to KTNV.

Judge Holthus was injured but not hospitalized and a courtroom marshal was hospitalized for “a bleeding gash on his forehead and a dislocated shoulder,” according to The Associated Press.

According to the outlet, Redden now faces multiple new felony charges, including battery on a protected person.

Judge Holthus was “elected to the state court bench in 2018 and again in 2022” following a long career as a lawyer, according to The Guardian.

The violent scene reminds onlookers that judges are often the targets of threats and violence.

In July 2020, Roy Den Hollander, a self-proclaimed “antifeminist” lawyer, went after Judge Esther Salas and her family, according to ABC News. Authorities said Hollander attacked the judge’s New Jersey home, killing Salas’ son and injuring her husband.

According to the outlet, U.S. Marshals say that inappropriate communications or threats against federal judges, prosecutors and court officials have been on the rise for years, jumping from 926 threats and inappropriate communications in 2015 to 4,449 in 2019.

Bloomberg Law reported that the number of substantiated threats against federal judges alone – a group of only 870 nationwide – climbed from 178 threats in 2019 to 311 in 2022. There were more than 280 reported threats in the first three months of 2023.

Men struggle for gun after argument over $50, TN police say. One charged with murder

Accused attacker challenges woman to shoot him — and she does, Missouri police say

Pastor tries shoving wife’s co-worker at McDonald’s into a deep fryer, NC police say