He was forced to perform with a Hannibal Lecter-style mask. The defendant who assaulted a Las Vegas judge last week and assaulted her on the floor found that judge bound in chains Monday to settle the case that brought him to trial.
Deobra Redden emerged from anonymity Wednesday by attacking Judge Mary Kay Holtus. He jumped over his platform when he realized she was about to send him to prison for assault, before he was painfully restrained by security officers and court staff in Las Vegas. The incident was filmed and quickly spread on social media.
Mask, hood and sleeves
After several days in the cell, the 30-year-old man was finally sentenced to a prison sentence of up to four years in a closely monitored hearing on Monday.
The defendant returned to the bar accompanied by six police officers. He wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face to prevent him from biting, a transparent hood to prevent possible spitting, and orange bondage sleeves that blocked his hands.
“I want to make it clear that I am not changing or modifying the sentence that I intended to pronounce last week,” the judge said, insisting on her impartiality even after she was slightly injured in the melee, according to the Las Vegas Review diary. The judge did not require hospitalization. However, a court guard was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
New assault hearing on Thursday
Deobra Redden, who has been convicted of domestic violence in the past, faces a separate trial for her attack on the judge. He was due to answer for that attack on Thursday but refused to leave his cell.
For Monday's hearing, the court ordered him to be tried “by any means necessary,” according to local media.
Attacks on judges in the middle of the courtroom are rare in the United States. On the other hand, threats against judges have increased in recent years.
In 2022, the US Marshals Service, the police force responsible for protecting federal judges, recorded 1,362 cases of threats or potential threats against them, compared to 926 in 2015. Threats against judges peaked in 2021 with 4,511 recorded incidents of this type .