LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The judge attacked in her courtroom last month says it felt like she was hit by a car and said she is still recovering from her injuries more than a month later.
As the 8 News Now Investigators first reported on Jan. 3, Deobra Redden, 30, a three-time felon, was in Judge Mary Kay Holthus’ courtroom for sentencing on a charge of attempted battery with substantial bodily harm.
Holthus was sitting behind the bench, which she described as four feet high when Redden ran up to her, jumped over the desk and attacked her, video shared with the 8 News Now Investigators showed. Several other people, including Holthus’ courtroom marshal and her law clerk, then fought with Redden before throwing him to the ground.
Photos showed a bloody scene, with blood on Holthus’ bench and on documents scattered in the area.
“And he literally trampolines like Superman over my bench, he clears the monitors and he bunny hopped the defendant’s table like it was nothing,” Holthus said. “I mean, it was boom and he was on me.”
Before the attack, Redden’s attorney asked Holthus to sentence his client to probation. Holthus then said, “I think it’s time he get a taste of something else.”
Last week, a Clark County grand jury voted to indict Redden on several charges, including attempted murder. Prosecutors had already charged Redden. The indictment means the case moves directly from Las Vegas Justice Court to Clark County District Court.
“It was a sentencing and it was also a motion to quash the bench warrant,” Holthus told the grand jury, according to transcripts the 8 News Now Investigators reviewed. “He had previously failed to appear so his attorney wanted to quash the warrant. He came in. We were going — he was going to be sentenced on an attempt battery with substantial bodily harm which can either be treated as a gross misdemeanor or a felony, probably more information than you need.”
Redden was previously in front of Holthus on charges of malicious destruction of property. Records show he served prison time on a domestic battery charge for a year, starting in 2021. In that case, a different judge sentenced Redden to prison for a term of 12-30 months. A board granted Redden parole in 2022.
In December, Holthus issued a bench warrant for Redden after he failed to appear for a hearing.
“Anyway, we had a back and forth and I kind of explained to him basically letting him know that he was going to prison because that’s what his record warranted,” Holthus said. “And he kind of was fine, he was like, ‘Well, you know, I don’t think I should but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, whatever you think is right.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ His attorney kind of made some pitches and next thing I know — in the interim my marshal, we kind of have a — first of all he knows me well enough to know when somebody is going to be remanded because he was out of custody at the time, and so I kind of give him the look and he knows it’s going to be time. And a lot of, most of the time if anything happens it’s going to be they’re going to dart for the door, they go out the back. And so the marshal positions himself between the door and the defendant. And then upon remand time, he gets right out behind him and that’s what he did.”
Seconds after Holthus said, “I think it’s time he get a taste of something else,” Redden jumped a table, ran to Holthus’ bench and slammed her against a wall, she said.
“The next thing I know he literally jumped that defense table and flew before I could even, and just slammed me into the wall,” she said. “Don’t know what hit me where. It literally — I mean, it was so incredibly fast I can’t even — and I sure didn’t expect it because, you know, I didn’t. I slammed against the wall. We have a marble wall behind the bench. My glasses flew, my head slammed against the wall.”
Prosecutors showed the grand jury photos of Holthus’ injuries, which she said included a lump and bruises on her head. As officers attempted to detain Redden, Holthus lay under her bench curled up, she said.
“Absolutely terrified,” she said about laying on the floor as her staff and officers subdued Redden. “There was — if they hadn’t been there I would not be here. I had — I was
no match. He was absolutely taking me out. My marshal was across the room. My law clerk who was right next to me couldn’t react fast enough and couldn’t get him off and was struggling and struggling. If it was just me, I wouldn’t have survived multiple blows to the head which is clearly where we were going with it. So I’m very thankful.”
Paramedics attended to Holthus’ injuries, and she later went to the hospital for a scan, she said.
“It hit hard. It was literally like getting hit by a car when you’re not sitting in a car,” she said. “I had a headache for a couple days. Like I said, I still can’t sleep on my left arm and it’s still inflamed. My tailbone for two weeks was killing me. I took two weeks off a treadmill and all I do is walk on it and I couldn’t do that. I lost clumps of hair, but I guess that’s not really — it’s emotionally painful.”
Holthus’ law clerk, Michael Lasso, helped officers, including Holthus’ marshal Shane Brandon, detain Redden. Brandon suffered a large cut to his head in the melee and also dislocated his arm, he told the panel. Lasso described the cut to Brandon’s head as like an “onion peel.”
“The video doesn’t really do it justice,” Lasso told 8 News Now a week after the attack. “To just how fast it was.”
In the minutes after the attack, officers took Redden to a holding cell and then to the Clark County Detention Center, which is connected to the Regional Justice Center via a tunnel. During the transition, Redden allegedly told an officer he had a bad day and was trying to kill Holthus.
“He also mentioned that he thought that the judge had it out for him and that she was evil and she got what she deserved,” a corrections officer told the grand jury. “He was surprisingly very calm and very serious. He wasn’t joking around. By what he said, he really truly felt he didn’t understand if he did anything wrong at all.”
While at CCDC, Redden allegedly spit in a corrections officer’s face, police said.
In addition to attempted murder, the grand jury indicted Redden on eight other charges, including extortion and battery. The attempted murder charge carries an enhancement due to Holthus’ age.
Redden’s family said he struggles with his mental health and that the criminal system has failed him.
Holthus sentenced Redden the following week as the interrupted hearing continued. Redden, who was sentenced from 19 months to four years on an attempted battery charge, appeared in the courtroom wearing a mask and surrounded by court marshals as two Metro police officers held onto him. Before sentencing Redden, Holthus said she did not modify or change her decision on his sentence because of the attack.
Voters elected Holthus to the bench in 2018. She previously worked for the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. She often hears domestic violence and sex assault cases.
Redden was in custody at the Nevada Department of Corrections after Holthus’ sentencing. He was due to be arraigned on the new charges stemming from the Jan. 3 attack on Feb. 29.
Amid four high-profile incidents over the past several months, a court spokesperson said the court was amending its security contract to supplement court marshals. The court also was working on additional safety and security measures and added marshals to courtrooms for “high-risk” events.
In addition, the spokesperson said the court has allocated $1.7 million in security upgrades and was reviewing a possible courtroom redesign.
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