Taking Command (2-4-1)

He stood in front of the judge and told her he was working, staying out of trouble and "in a better place in my mind." She said she was sending him to prison anyway. Before she could finish the sentence, he was flying over her bench: In the video below, the courtroom camera catches the whole thing. January 3, 2024. Clark County District Court, Las Vegas. Deobra Redden was 30, a three-time felon, there to be sentenced for attempted battery. He'd beaten a man with a baseball bat the year before. He'd even said he understood. "If it's appropriate for you, then you gotta do what you gotta do." Then Judge Mary Kay Holthus started reading out the prison term. He ran at her, cleared the bench in one jump and landed on top of her. Her marshal, her clerk and a lawyer in the room piled on to drag him off. The marshal was treated for a head injury. The clerk was scraped up. The judge was back on the bench the next day. Afterwards he told guards he'd had a bad day and tried to kill the judge. He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His lawyer said he hadn't been taking his medication. He pleaded guilty but mentally ill to attempted murder and five other charges. In December 2024 he got 26 to 65 years. At sentencing he said he didn't remember much of that day, and that he isn't an evil person. The judge testified she thought she was going to die. Does untreated mental illness change how much blame he deserves, or is attacking a judge in her own courtroom unforgivable no matter what?