Judge attacked by defendant during sentencing
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada judge was attacked Wednesday by a defendant in a felony battery case who leaped over a defense table and the judge’s bench, landing atop her and sparking a bloody brawl involving court officials and attorneys, officials and witnesses said.
In a violent scene captured by courtroom video, Clark County District Judge Mary Kay Holthus fell back from her seat against a wall and suffered some injuries but was not hospitalized, courthouse officials said.
A courtroom marshal was also injured as he came to the judge’s aid and was hospitalized for treatment of a bleeding gash on his forehead and a dislocated shoulder, according to the officials and witnesses.
The attack occurred about 11 a.m. at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas.
The defendant, Deobra Delone Redden, 30, was wrestled to the floor behind the judge’s bench by several court and jail officers and courtroom staff members — including some who are seen throwing punches.
He was arrested and jailed at the Clark County Detention Center, where records showed he faces multiple new felony charges including battery on a protected person — referring to the judge and court officers.
“It happened so fast it was hard to know what to do,” said Richard Scow, the chief county district attorney who prosecuted Redden on a case that stemmed from an arrest last year on allegations that Redden attacked a person with a baseball bat.
Redden’s defense attorney, Caesar Almase, did not respond to later telephone and email messages seeking comment.
Redden was not in custody when he arrived at court Wednesday. He wore a white shirt and dark pants as he stood next to Almase, asking the judge for leniency while describing himself as “a person who never stops trying to do the right thing no matter how hard it is.”
“I’m not a rebellious person,” he told the judge, later adding that he doesn’t think he should be sent to prison. “But if it’s appropriate for you then you have to do what you have to do.”
As the judge made it clear she intended to put him behind bars, and the court marshal moved to handcuff him, Redden yelled expletives and charged forward — amid screams from people who had been sitting with Redden in the courtroom audience.
Records showed that Redden, a Las Vegas resident, was evaluated and found mentally competent to stand trial before pleading guilty in November to a reduced charge of attempted battery causing substantial bodily harm. He previously served prison time in Nevada on a domestic battery conviction, state records show.
Holthus, a career prosecutor with more than 27 years of courthouse experience, was elected to the state court bench in 2018 and again in 2022.
In a statement, court spokesperson Mary Ann Price said officials were “reviewing all our protocols and will do whatever is necessary to protect the judiciary, the public and our employees.”
New Mexico
Lawsuit alleges FEMA has delayed compensation for victims of wildfire
SANTA FE. N.M. (AP) — A new lawsuit has been filed against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, alleging compensation has been delayed for victims of the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history.
FEMA is responsible for doling out funds to people who suffered losses in the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire that began as two prescribed burns set by the U.S. Forest Service in January and April 2022 in northern New Mexico.
The blazes combined and burned about 341,000 acres (532 square miles) in the mountains east of Santa Fe, destroying hundreds of homes and displacing thousands of residents in rural villages throughout the area.
The federal government set aside nearly $4 billion last year to pay claims related to the wildfire.
FEMA officials said as of last month, the agency had paid $276 million to 880 claimants who suffered losses.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Wednesday that the latest lawsuit involving the devastating wildfire was filed by 15 claimants who say FEMA officials misrepresented claim deadlines and has failed to process claims within a required 180-day time frame.
The plaintiffs said FEMA has “unilaterally decided” the 180-day period to notify claimants of a compensation offer starts not when a claim is submitted but after the federal agency has “acknowledged” the claim, which can be as long as five months after it was filed.
FEMA’s New Mexico information center declined to comment on the lawsuit, but it said it had identified a flaw in its reporting system that affected the timeline management of some cases.
“We are addressing the issue and are calling the parties involved to notify them and discuss available steps to process their claims as quickly as possible,” Claims Office officials said in a statement to the New Mexican.
The newspaper said the plaintiffs’ collective claims total nearly $17 million in losses.
Missouri
‘Debtor’s prison’ lawsuit filed against suburb resolved with $2.9 million settlement
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri city will pay nearly $3 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of violating the constitutional rights of residents by jailing them and forcing them to pay fines and fees amounting to millions of dollars, often for minor traffic violations.
The $2.9 million settlement with the St. Louis suburb of Florissant was approved by a federal judge on Tuesday and announced Wednesday by ArchCity Defenders, a St. Louis-based public interest law firm. The class-action lawsuit was filed in 2016.
Florissant was among several St. Louis County cities whose policing and court practices were scrutinized after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson. Brown, a Black 18-year-old, was killed by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014.
Wilson was not charged, but the shooting led to months of protests and prompted a Department of Justice investigation. The federal agency in 2015 accused Ferguson of racially biased policing and using excessive fines and court fees. A year later, Ferguson and the Justice Department reached an agreement that required sweeping reforms.
Funds from the Florissant settlement will be distributed among more than 85,000 people who were jailed or fined between Oct. 31, 2011, and Feb. 1, 2023. The settlement requires Florissant to forgive unpaid fees from traffic violations between Oct. 31, 2011, and Dec. 31, 2019, and to take other steps, including ensuring the right to an attorney for anyone brought before a municipal judge.
The Associated Press left telephone messages with the Florissant mayor’s office. Florissant, with 52,000 residents, is the largest city in St. Louis County.
Allison Nelson, now 32, said she was jailed twice in Florissant because she couldn’t afford to pay traffic fines.
“To hold money over someone’s head like that, especially with me being as young as I was — that was crazy to me,” Nelson said in a news release from ArchCity Defenders.
Florissant joins the Missouri cities of Jennings, Normandy, Edmundson, Maplewood and St. Ann in settling similar class-action lawsuits. ArchCity Defenders said the six settlements combined have amounted to $16 million in damages. A lawsuit is still pending against the city of Ferguson.
California
2 men charged in shooting death of police officer
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Two men were charged with murder Wednesday in the death of an Oakland police officer who was shot while answering a burglary report at a marijuana business, authorities said.
Charges were filed against Mark Sanders, 27, of Tracy, and Allen Starr Brown, 28, of Chico.
The two remained jailed Wednesday night. They were scheduled for arraignment Thursday and it wasn’t immediately clear whether they had attorneys who could speak for them.
Officer Tuan Le, 36, was shot in the head Friday and died at a hospital. He was in plainclothes and driving an unmarked truck when he and other officers answered a report of a burglary in progress at a suspected illegal cannabis grow house near Jack London Square, where another burglary had been reported several hours earlier, authorities said.
The arriving officers said they saw several people leaving the business. Prosecutors allege that Sanders opened fire from a car with Brown inside the vehicle.
Officers took their wounded colleague to the hospital, where he died about four hours later.
Le was the 54th Oakland police officer to die in the line of duty and the first killed in nearly 15 years.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and interim Police Chief Darren Allison announced the arrests and charging of the men at a news conference Wednesday night.
Price said she had told Le’s wife and mother about the charges and assured them that her office “will do everything within the confines of our legal power to make sure...that the man we believe shot and killed officer Le will serve the rest of his life in prison.”
A third man, Sebron Ray Russell, 30, is charged with taking part in the burglary. It also wasn’t immediately clear whether he had legal representation.
Sanders and Russell have criminal records. The two and another man pleaded no contest in 2022 to burglarizing a Pittsburg home where marijuana was being grown and received six-month jail terms, the East Bay Times reported.
Sanders also pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter for a 2014 shooting that took place when he was 17 that killed an 18-year-old man, the paper said.
Brown and Russell were arrested over the weekend and Sanders was arrested Tuesday in Livermore, authorities said.
At the news conference, authorities said Le’s handcuffs were used to arrest Sanders.
Price said told Le’s family that her office would seek a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole for the officer’s killers.
Meanwhile, police said they continued to pursue other suspects in the burglary.
Arizona
Rancher rejects plea deal in fatal shooting of migrant near the U.S.-Mexico border
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — A March 21 trial date was set Wednesday for an Arizona rancher accused of fatally shooting a migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border last year.
George Alan Kelly rejected a plea deal offered by prosecutors Wednesday that would have reduced charges to one count of negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty, the Arizona Republic reported.
Kelly’s trial in Santa Cruz County Superior Court is expected to last three weeks, the newspaper said.
Kelly, 75, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault in the Jan. 30, 2023, shooting of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea of Nogales, Mexico.
Authorities said Kelly shot at a group of unarmed migrants who were walking through his nearly 170-acre cattle ranch in the Kino Springs area, and Cuen-Buitimea was among them.
According to prosecutors, Kelly recklessly fired an AK-47 rifle toward the migrants, who were about 100 yards away from him.
But Kelly’s lawyer said her client shot into the air above the migrants, and he feared for his and his wife’s safety and the property.
The other migrants weren’t injured and managed to escape back to Mexico.
Cuen-Buitimea also entered the U.S. illegally several times and was convicted and deported, most recently in 2016, court records show.
The shooting has stirred emotions as the national debate over border security heats up ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
