A Las Vegas judge who was attacked and viciously attacked by a convicted felon during his sentencing hearing in January fought back tears in court Thursday as he said he thought he was going to die.
Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus grew emotional, removing her glasses and wiping away tears, during the hearing in which the assailant, Deobra Redden, pleaded guilty to attempted murder. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Holthus, 62, told jurors she felt “defenseless” when Redden tackled her and slammed her head into the floor, and credited court officials who rushed to her aid with saving her life, the newspaper reported.
“I absolutely thought, 'He's going to kill her,'” Court Clerk Michael Russo told jurors.
Russo said he pulled Redden, 31, away from the judge and used punches to subdue the three-time felon, then witnessed Redden punch a corrections officer, who also intervened.
Judge Holthus was about to sentence Redden on a separate attempted felony assault case on January 3 when he was caught on camera making the shocking move of throwing himself onto the bench.
The video shows Redden sprinting to the bench with his arms outstretched and slamming the umpire to the floor.
The lawyers announced the plea agreement on Thursday, and the trial ended after prosecutors questioned Holthus and Lasso for more than two hours about the attack.
Redden's lawyer, Karl Arnold, said his client suffers from schizophrenia and was not taking his medication at the time of the attack.
Arnold said Redden considered pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, but that defense strategy would have placed too high a burden of proof.
He previously maintained that Redden was not trying to kill Holthus.
Court documents released two days after the attack said Redden had previously said he had intended to kill Holthus, blaming the incident on bad events that day.
“The judge is hostile towards me,” Redden told officers after he was taken into custody. “The judge is evil.”
Holthus was not hospitalized and returned to work after being treated for his injuries.
With post wire
