LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A man has been sentenced by the same Clark County District Judge that he attacked last week.
On Monday, Judge Mary Kay Holthus sentenced 30-year-old Deobra Redden to 19 months to four years in prison on attempted battery charges. This was in connection to a baseball bat attack on a person last year and isn't related to the courtroom attack.
Redden is slated to appear before a different judge on Tuesday regarding new felony and misdemeanor charges related to the attack.
Last week, Redden appeared before Holthus on an attempted battery with substantial bodily harm charge. As she was preparing to hand down a sentence, Redden was seen in a viral video jumping over the bench to attack her.
According to an arrest report, Holthus said Redden knocked her out of her chair and slammed her head against the wall before ripping some of her hair out. The report also stated that two marshals were notified of a panic alarm but were dispatched to the wrong courtroom.
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The report adds that corrections officers heard Redden state "he had a bad day and tried to kill the judge today" while he was being strip searched.
According to Redden's family, he suffers from schizophrenia, is bipolar, and has been off his medications.
"He was basically born with mental illness. He was born with crack cocaine in his system, so his chance at life was taken at birth," Redden's sister, Ladonna Daniels, said. "He has been off his psych meds since he got out of jail because he doesn't have an appointment until March. He has not taken anything at all."
Daniels said she believes that Redden's reaction was a fight-or-flight response after Holthus said "I think it's time that he got a taste of something else" as she prepared to hand down his sentence.
"He tried to speak for himself. I think he should have never been allowed to take the stand or speak on his own behalf because of his condition. I just think his reactions were not premeditated. It was triggered because he seemed to have been pleading for his freedom," Daniels said. "I think when the judge said 'it's time for you to get a taste of', it became a trigger and in his mind, he felt threatened."
Redden's foster mom, Karen Denise Springer, said Redden also wasn't feeling 100% heading to court last week.
"The night before he had court, he didn't really sleep because when I picked him up to come to court I asked who are you talking to? He said no one. I used to tell him as a kid, don't listen to those voices. As he got older and took the medication, I saw where he was much calmer," Springer said. "I believe they gave him his first dose in jail yesterday. I could tell in his voice that he was calmer and he didn't realize the magnitude of what happened. It shocked me just as it shocked everybody else. I went to a state of shock. It was heartbreaking to see him. At the end of the day, it's about his mental state. We just seem to forget that."
Springer said Redden had just been released from jail about six weeks ago and was trying to turn things around.
"After he got out, he got an apartment and was in contact with parole and probation. Now you said you're about to send him back? In his mind, he didn't think he was going back. He was ready to go to work the next day. He was in a better place," Springer said. "I felt that even going back to her courtroom was totally biased. Why? You want to send a message."
Holthus returned to court one day after the attack. She filed an order on Friday asking officers to bring him to court "by any and all means necessary". Holthus added she has not changed or modified the original sentence that she was going to hand down last week, prior to the attack.
Last week, Chief Judge Jerry Wiese said there are ongoing conversations about hiring more court marshals and assessing the designs of courtrooms at the Regional Justice Center to prevent something like this from happening again.
Redden's family said they hope he can get the medical help he needs.
"I don't think sending him to prison is going to help anyone with mental illness. The people in prison are trained for prisoners. They're not trained for people who suffer from mental illnesses so he will not get the proper treatment," Daniels said. "We have put him in a worse state of mind because the system has failed him. That's how he feels."
According to Clark County Detention Center records, Redden was still in jail on $54,000 bail, as of Monday. He's due in court on Tuesday where he is facing charges related to the courtroom attack including attempted murder, extortion, coercion with force and battery on a protected person, referring to the judge and the officers who came to her aid.
