US man who attacked judge in viral video jailed

A man who threw himself at a US judge in an attack captured on a video that went viral was jailed for up to 65 years on Tuesday.

Deobra Redden, 31, hurled himself over the bench at Judge Mary Kay Holthus when she was about to sentence him for an earlier crime.

Footage of the January attack shows punches flying in all directions as Redden continues to flail even as a marshal, court staff and lawyers try to restrain him.

US man who attacked judge in viral video jailed

A man who threw himself at a US judge in an attack captured on a video that went viral was jailed for up to 65 years on Tuesday.
Deobra Redden, 31, hurled himself over the bench at Judge Mary Kay Holthus when she was about to sentence him for an earlier crime.

Footage of the January attack shows punches flying in all directions as Redden continues to flail even as a marshal, court staff and lawyers try to restrain him.

The assault left the judge badly shaken and a marshal needed hospital treatment.

At a hearing in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Judge Susan Johnson sentenced Redden to serve between 26 and 65 years.

Earlier, Redden told the judge he was not evil.

“I know that I’m not a bad person,” he said. “I believe that you all know I’m not an evil person.”

Redden’s lawyer, Carl Arnold, said his client has battled with severe mental illness for most of his life, and had not been on his medication at the time of the outrage.

“He is deeply remorseful,” Arnold said Tuesday.

“The first time that he saw the entire video… his reaction was very visceral. It was almost like he wanted to throw up.

“He called himself a monster. ‘That’s me? I did that? I did not mean to hurt that woman like that’.”

Redden pleaded guilty but mentally ill at an earlier hearing to a slew of charges, including attempted murder, in relation to the January courtroom assault.

On Tuesday judge Johnson said Redden’s assault had been “an attack on the judiciary.”

“While there is no question you’ve got some mental illness issue, there was no doubt by doctors that you know the difference between right and wrong,” she told him.