Man Who Vaulted Judge’s Bench to Attack Her Sent to Prison for Decades

The man who vaulted over the four-foot high bench of a Las Vegas judge to attack her earlier this year has been sentenced to up to 65 years in a Nevada prison. Deobra Redden, 31, attacked Las Vegas District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus, 62, in January as she was issuing his sentence in an attempted battery case. “It was not just retaliation or an attack on Judge Holthus,” said District Court Judge Susan Johnson, who presided over the judge attack case. “It was also an attack on the judiciary.” Redden pleaded guilty but mentally ill to attempted murder and other charges in September, but Johnson said doctors who evaluated him determined he knew the difference between “right and wrong.” She declined to sentence him to a prison sentence concurrent with the one he is already serving, instead ordering him to serve an additional 26 to 65 years. “I’m not making excuses for my actions, but I’m saying I’m not a bad person and I know that I did not intend to kill Mary Kay Holthus, I know I cared about her wellbeing,” he told the court before he was sentenced.