Career criminal who attacked Las Vegas judge in court room sentenced to at least 26 years in prison

A Las Vegas judge has sentenced the man who brutally attacked another judge in court earlier this year to at least 26 years in prison. Deobra Redden, 31, pleaded guilty to six felony charges in September. He was sentenced Tuesday by Clack County District Court Judge Susan Johnson, who told the Court the attack was an assault on the entire judiciary.

Redden, a multi-convicted felon, had pleaded guilty to six of the seven charges including battery on a protected person, battery of an officer, battery by a prisoner, intimidating a public officer, and extortion before jury selection on Sept. 3. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to attempted murder of a victim 60 years of age or older, court documents show.

On Jan. 3, Redden launched himself over Las Vegas District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus's desk and violently assaulted her while she was sentencing Redden on attempted battery charges in a separate case. An arrest report shows that Redden knocked Judge Holthus out of her chair, slammed her head against a wall, and ripped out some of her hair. Two marshals were notified of a panic alarm but were dispatched to the wrong courtroom, according to court documents.

Prosecutors asked Judge Johnson to impose a substantial prison sentence on Redden, while his counsel recommended that he serve a concurrent prison term to the 4 and 11-year sentence that he has been currently serving. The current prison term is in connection to the Nov. 2023 attempted battery case where he attacked Judge Holthus during sentencing. Judge Johnson declined to sentence Redden concurrently, at the request of his counsel. She sentenced him to an aggregate prison term of 26 to 65 years in prison, 8 News Now reported.

Redden addressed the court directly at his sentencing and questioned why prosecutors asked for the maximum possible sentence. "I don't understand why the state is really going after my character," he said. "I'm not a bad person. I'm not an evil person." Redden further contended, according to Court TV, that he "didn't want to be known as a person with mental illness" because "those people get attacked."

Judge Holthus sustained some injuries but returned to work the following day. Her clerk, Michael Lasso, was also treated for cuts on his hands, while a marshal was admitted to the hospital with a dislocated shoulder and a cut to the forehead.

Redden's criminal record includes past convictions for several felonies and nine misdemeanor offenses; he spent time in a Nevada prison for a domestic assault conviction before being convicted in his attempted battery case and again in his judge assault case.