Geoffrey Wells wrestles with a bailiff after he already had attacked another bailiff during his divorce trial in the courtroom of Family Court Judge Cheryl Moss. Four bailiffs were treated at University Medical Center after the brawl.
Geoffrey Wells
Faces four felony counts of battery for courtroom violence
Lawyer Randall Roske felt it coming.
"I could see it building up," he said.
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Family Court Judge Cheryl Moss had a feeling, too, and called in extra bailiffs "just in case."
By the time Thursday's divorce trial was over, Geoffrey Wells, whose 12-year-old son killed himself with an unsecured shotgun, would prove their feelings right. After Moss reminded him of her order to lock up his guns before the suicide, the 36-year-old snapped.
"I'm getting screwed, and I'm supposed to sit here and take it," he shouted at the judge.
When bailiff Norm Adams asked Wells to stand and be handcuffed because of the repeated verbal outbursts in court, Wells whirled around and started throwing haymakers. Adams fell to the floor as Wells continued punching and kicking the bailiffs who rushed in to help.
One burly bailiff jumped on Wells' back, but the former Marine wouldn't go down until a half-dozen bailiffs joined the fray and wrestled him to the ground.
The grunts and shouts from the bailiffs were punctuated by screams from Wells' mother.
"Geoffrey, stop. Geoffrey, stop. Geoffrey, please," she yelled.
More than a dozen bailiffs swarmed into the courtroom and managed to handcuff Wells and lead him to a holding cell. He later was booked at the Clark County Detention Center with four counts of battery on a police officer, one for each of the bailiffs who went to University Medical Center with minor injuries.
Each felony count carries a prison sentence of one to four years.
Wells was already on probation for his November 2005 guilty plea to child endangerment in connection with the death of his son, Syber Wells. Authorities charged Wells because he didn't lock his guns and his three sons had easy access to them.
His lawyer, Gerard Bongiovanni, would not comment.
In the hallway after the scuffle, Adams limped from the courtroom on his way to the hospital. Wells' parents both apologized for their son.
"Don't worry," Adams said. "It's part of the job."
On the August 2005 morning that Syber killed himself, his parents, Geoffrey and Maria Wells, were separated and in the middle of a contentious divorce.
Geoffrey Wells went to work, leaving the three boys alone.
Syber told his brothers, ages 10 and 8, that he planned to kill himself so they wouldn't have to see their father anymore, Maria Wells testified Thursday.
He asked his 10-year-old brother to shoot him, she said, but the sibling refused. The younger brothers left the room and sat on a couch with pillows over their heads until they heard the gunshot, Maria Wells said.
They ran back to the room, saw their brother and called for help at a neighbor's house.
Geoffrey Wells originally was charged with child neglect and two counts of child endangerment. He pleaded guilty to one count of child endangerment under an agreement with prosecutors and was given a suspended one-year jail sentence and three years' probation.
Before the suicide, Moss had ordered Geoffrey Wells to secure the guns in his Henderson home. Police later found nine unlocked guns throughout the home.
During Thursday's trial, Geoffrey Wells said he didn't care about the money at stake in the divorce and only wanted to see his sons again. He hasn't had any contact with them since Syber's death.
He said he blamed Maria Wells, whom he called a "crazy Mexican," for Syber's death.
"Do I despise her? Yes," he said. "I could go the rest of my life not seeing her and be happy."
He also spoke of periods of depression and suicidal thoughts after the death, and of how his probation officer worried about him.
"He worried I might lose it, come down here, break your neck," Geoffrey Wells told Roske, his wife's lawyer.
Maria Wells said her youngest son didn't want to see his father, and her oldest son would see him only if he were on the other side of a window.
Maria Wells said her husband's anger toward her wouldn't be good for her children. "He really hates me," she testified. "I'm scared of what he might do. He has threatened to kill me in the past. I'm scared for me. I'm scared for my children. He hasn't exactly been acting normal."
Moss said Wells' continuing anger toward his wife was "very disturbing to the court," especially because he said he already had completed anger management classes.
"He's just frustrated with the whole system, judge," Bongiovanni said. "I think I would be, too."
After the fracas, Moss returned to the bench, finished giving her decision in the divorce case and addressed what had happened.
"I'm not happy about what happened here in the courtroom," Moss said. "It shouldn't have happened. In my six years on the bench, I've never had this happen. I've never had five bailiffs hurt. ... This is not something you take lightly."
She extended a temporary protection order against Wells for a year and ordered a gradual process to bring his children back into his life. That process, however, will have to wait until any criminal sentences are completed.
"Obviously, his anger problem is out of control," Roske said. "He needs to fix that. Until then he can't have contact with these children."
