Man who attacked Las Vegas judge skips court, could get bail
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The man who attacked a judge in a Las Vegas courtroom on Wednesday refused to show up to court Thursday and remains in jail.
As Nexstar's KLAS first reported, Deobra Redden, 30, a three-time felon, was in Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus' courtroom for sentencing on a charge of attempted battery with substantial bodily harm. As Holthus was getting ready to sentence Redden to prison time, he lunged over the bench and attacked her.
On Thursday, Redden refused to show up for his initial appearance in the same building where the attack happened the day before.
The Clark County District Attorney's office requested Redden be held without bail. However, Pro-Tem Judge Lauren Diefenbach said that she was not comfortable arguing about bail without Redden present. Bail remained at $54,000.
In the state of Nevada, a defendant can work with a bail bond company to post 15% of the bail amount. In Redden's case, this would be $8,100. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson disagreed with Diefenbach's decision.
"I'm disappointed," Wolfson said. "We asked for a no-bail setting. We asked that he be detained because we believe that he is a danger to the community," Wolfson said. "The world has seen what happened yesterday and this person's behavior in court and I've almost seen nothing else like this, so we believe he is an extreme danger to the community."
On Wednesday, a court spokesperson said that security protocols would be reviewed.
Redden, who appeared in court with his mother, has three felony convictions and nine misdemeanor convictions on his record, according to documents obtained by KLAS.
Holthus was about to deny Redden’s probation request when Redden ran up to her, jumped over the bench and attacked her, courtroom video showed. Several other people then fought with Redden before throwing him to the ground.
Redden was booked into the Clark County jail on new charges of battery and battery on a protected person. One count of the battery-on-a-protected-person charge indicated the victim was “substantially harmed.”
A court spokesperson said Holthus’ injuries were “being monitored.” A marshal was taken to a hospital. He was listed in stable condition as of Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson said.
Redden was due in court again on Jan. 9.