Man who leaped at judge charged with attempted murder in Nevada courtroom attack

The man who leaped at a judge over the bench as he waited to be his sentenced has been charged with attempted murder in the Nevada courtroom attack.

It was one of multiple allegations filed against Deobra Delone Redden, 30, has also been accused of battery on a protected person, extortion by threat and intimidating a public officer. He was charged Monday in Clark County, Nevada District Court in connection with the Jan. 3 attack, widely seen via courtroom security video.

Before the attack last week, Judge Mary Kay Holthus had said that Redden’s prior record necessitated “a taste of something else” besides the virtual freedom he sought in an unrelated case of attempted battery with substantial harm.

He vaulted over a defense table, dove across the judge’s bench, and landed atop Holthus, slamming her head against a wall, striking her on the head and pulling out hair, according to an arrest report.

The judge was treated for injuries on site after hiding under a desk as court officials brawled with Redden, according to the defendant’s arrest report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

A relative later took Holthus to a hospital for pain, the police report said.

Holthus was back in her courtroom the day after the attack, and on Monday, she completed the sentencing and ordered Redden to spend up to four years in prison for the unrelated, baseball bat attack last year.

Chief Judge Jerry Wiese later described the defendant’s action as “Supermanning over a judicial bench” and called it unprecedented behavior.

The courtroom marshal, Shane Brandon, charged Redden and dislocated his shoulder and sustained a face laceration, police said. Redden is accused of punching a corrections officer, and a law clerk involved in the melee sustained cuts on a hand, the arrest report said. Prosecutors also allege Redden spit on a law enforcement officer during the courtroom violence.

Redden’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The arrest reports states that Redden told officers searching him after the attack he had tried to kill the judge. He was having a bad day, he said, according to the document.