Man who attacked Las Vegas judge pleads guilty, mentally ill

Deobra Redden pleaded guilty but mentally ill in the middle of his attempted murder trial on Thursday, the same day he heard testimony from the judge he was seen attacking in a viral video.

Attorneys announced the plea on Thursday afternoon, ending the trial after prosecutors spent more than two hours questioning District Judge Mary Kay Holthus and her law clerk, Michael Lasso, about the attack.

“Judge Holthus is very pleased and thanks the jury for their service, as do we,” Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani said after the jurors were dismissed on Thursday.

Redden’s defense attorney, Carl Arnold, told the Review-Journal that there were discussions about a potential plea deal throughout the trial.

“It’s the thing that we wanted to do from the very beginning,” Arnold said Thursday evening.

Arnold previously said his client would be pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, but he said earlier in the week that he would no longer be using that defense because of its high burden of proof. He argued during opening statements that his client was not trying to kill Holthus when he attacked her during a sentencing hearing in January, launching himself across the courtroom and over the judge’s bench.

Redden’s attorney also argued during opening statements that his client, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, was not taking his medication at the time of the attack.

Attorneys spoke in private during a lengthy break after Lasso’s testimony on Thursday afternoon. When they returned and Redden confirmed he wanted to plead guilty, the judge asked him if he was admitting to attempted murder.

“Did you do that, sir?” District Judge Susan Johnson asked, after describing the charge.

“Yes,” Redden said, looking down.

The judge also found that Redden was “fully competent and capable of entering an informed plea.”

As Holthus testified on Thursday afternoon, she said multiple times that she believed the officials and attorneys who came to her aide saved her life as Redden attacked her. When Lasso took the stand, he gave an animated description of the attack, recalling how he saw Redden grab Holthus’ hair and latch onto her.

“Especially when I saw her hit the back of her skull on that tile, I absolutely thought: He’s going to kill her,” Lasso said.

Holthus testified Thursday that she felt “defenseless” when Redden launched himself across the courtroom and hit her.

“I’m not going to get out of here,” Holthus recalled thinking during the attack.

Before the trial began on Tuesday, Redden pleaded guilty to six additional charges but maintained he was not guilty of attempted murder against a victim 60 or older. On Thursday, he withdrew the pleas and entered a guilty but mentally ill plea to each of the counts.

“As to the question of the defendant’s intent, there’s no one who knows better than him,” Giordani said in a written statement. “And he admitted hours after the attack to three separate correctional staff that he tried, and wanted, to kill Judge Holthus.”

The other charges he pleaded guilty to are battery on a protected person age 60 or older resulting in substantial bodily harm, intimidating a public officer, battery on an officer resulting in substantial bodily harm, willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property resulting in substantial bodily harm, battery by a prisoner and unlawful act related to bodily fluid.

A guilty but mentally ill plea can affect where a defendant is housed in prison, and what mental health treatment they receive.

Holthus has only previously spoken publicly about the attack in grand jury testimony. She spoke quietly as she testified Thursday, at times gesturing to her head or the area behind the judge’s bench, where she was attacked in her own courtroom. She briefly became emotional, wiping at her eyes.

“I just remember saying help, help, somebody get him off,” Holthus testified. “In my head I was completely defenseless. He was so determined and so violent and so — it was scary, I didn’t think I would get out of it.”

Holthus said that when Redden launched himself at her, she was thrown against a marble wall behind the judge’s bench. She said she was hit on the head, but she testified under cross-examination that she does not remember how many times she was struck, and she does not remember if Redden put his hands on her throat.

Redden was accused of pulling Holthus’ hair, hitting her on the head and putting his hands around her neck, according to an indictment. Arnold disputed in opening statements that Redden put his hands on her throat.

The judge said she rolled under her desk and stayed in the fetal position until the attack was over. Lasso testified that Redden and Holthus were inches apart, and he couldn’t pry Redden off of the judge.

Lasso testified that he saw Holthus in a “state of shock,” during the attack. Because he was right next to the judge, Lasso was the first person to try and pull Redden off of her. He said he tried wrestling with Redden, and later tried punching Redden to subdue him.

Lasso also described how Redden began hitting a corrections officer who was trying to intervene.

“I remember Mr. Redden just going at the corrections officer, just winding back his arm and just landing blows,” Lasso said, miming punches from the witness stand. “Really big blows, like boom, boom.”

Redden was ordered to appear in court for a sentencing hearing on Nov. 7.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.