He was forced to appear with a mask, Hannibal Lecter style: the defendant who attacked a Las Vegas judge in full court last week found this magistrate on Monday, hampered by chains, to settle the case which had been brought before the courts.
Deobra Redden emerged from anonymity Wednesday by attacking Judge Mary Kay Holtus. He jumped over his platform when he realized that she was about to send him to prison for an assault case, before being painfully restrained by security agents and court staff.
Filmed, the incident quickly went viral on social networks.
After several days in cell, this 30-year-old man was finally sentenced to up to four years in prison on Monday, during a hearing under close surveillance.
The defendant returned to the bar escorted by six police officers. He wore a mask covering the lower half of his face to prevent him from biting, a transparent hood to hinder his possible spitting, and orange restraining sleeves obstructed his hands.
“I want to make it clear that I am not changing or modifying the sentence that I was going to impose last week,” said the judge, insisting on her impartiality, even after being slightly injured in the melee, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal .
The magistrate did not need to be hospitalized. However, a court security guard was taken to hospital after being slightly injured.
Already convicted in the past for domestic violence, Mr. Redden must be tried separately for his attack on the judge. He was to answer for this attack on Thursday, but refused to leave his cell.
For Monday’s hearing, the court ordered him to be brought to court “by any means necessary”, according to local media.
Attacks on judges in the middle of a courtroom are rather rare in the United States. On the other hand, threats against magistrates have increased in recent years.
In 2022, the US Marshals Service, the police responsible for protecting federal judges, recorded 1,362 cases of threats or potential threats against them, compared to 926 in 2015.
Threats against judges reached their peak in 2021, with 4,511 such events recorded.
