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Man who leaped over bench and attacked judge heading to trial

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on September 3, 2024

(LAS VEGAS) — The man who went viral in January for leaping over a Las Vegas, Nevada, courtroom bench and attacking the presiding judge is set to return to court for trial this week, with jury selection beginning Tuesday.

Deobra Redden, 31, is facing nine charges for assaulting Judge Mary Kay Holthus, including battery on a protected person resulting in substantial bodily harm and attempted murder of a victim 60 years of age or older, according to Clark County records.

At the time of the attack, Holthus was preparing to deliver Redden’s sentence in his attempted battery case when he leaped over the bench and tackled her off her chair.

Video from the incident shows Redden repeatedly punching the judge while yelling expletives.

Holthus stated in the arrest report that Redden slammed her head against the wall and pulled some of her hair out.

Additionally, two marshals who were alerted to the incident by a panic alarm were sent to the wrong courtroom, prolonging the attack, according to the report.

In an interview with “Good Morning America” in January, Michael Lasso, the then 27-year-old law clerk who stepped in to help Holthus, said “this was something you usually don’t see in court.”

“I was just in shock and just reacted,” Lasso, who was hailed as a “hero” for jumping into action, said at the time.

“I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if I wasn’t there,” Lasso added.

During his arraignment in August, Redden pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity with his defense arguing he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and was in a “delusional state,” his attorney, Carl Arnold, said during the hearing.

Arnold alleged that Redden was not taking medication leading up to the day of the hearing. “So basically, he was out of his mind and not in control of what he was doing,” Arnold said at the time.

Redden has three prior felony convictions and is currently serving a prison sentence for the original attempted battery charge that led to January’s hearing, according to records.