Law&Crime Sidebar - Court Clerk Who Manhandled Felon During Viral Judge Attack Speaks Out: ‘Pure Adrenaline’

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

The law clerk who quickly came to the aid of a Las Vegas judge when she was assaulted by a defendant says he wasn’t even supposed to be at work that day. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber sits down with Michael Lasso to get the play-by-play on Deobra Redden’s sudden attack, Lasso’s instinct to help, and what it was like seeing Redden back in court the very next day.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. It's a scary situation there. I mean, you're in fear of your own life. You're in fear of the judge's life. You're in fear of everyone else in that courtroom. It's the attack seen around the world. A Nevada man launched himself at a judge who decided to give him jail time instead of probation. We're talking with the law clerk who immediately jumped in to help that judge.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. So we recently told you about 30-year-old Di Ober Redden. He was in court in front of Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthes. He was there to be sentenced after pleading guilty to an attempted battery charge for a baseball bat attack. And despite him having a long criminal history with both felonies and misdemeanors, he was actually pleading to a lesser charge. His attorneys were hoping for probation. but Judge Halthus decided, quote,

I think it's time that he get a taste of something else because I just can't with that history. When Redden heard that statement, he wasted no time. He apparently lost it, ran towards Judge Halthus, actually leaping over the bench, tackling her to the ground. It was absolutely insane. Redden ended up fighting with the clerk,

a marshal, police officer. Port Marshall had to get stitches at a dislocated shoulder. According to authorities, the judge's head hit the wall. wall redden also struck her in the head pulled her hair even allegedly put his hands around her throat now she sustained some injuries but thankfully she was okay okay she actually made her way back into court the following week to continue red and sentencing and she wanted to make it clear that she wasn't going to tack on any other punishments because of the attack which she graciously calls an interruption i want to make it clear that i am not changing or modifying the sentence i was in the

process of imposing last week before I was interrupted by defendant's actions. I am making my calendar page from that day an exhibit for the court. As it existed, the moment I walked in prior to anything happening, nothing's been changed indicating the sentence I intended to impose. You can see that because of his actions, Redden was brought into court in restraints, hand covers, a spit mask. Judge Halthus sentenced him between 19 months and four years in prison for the original charge. But as you can imagine, Redden is facing a whole slew of other charges because of the

attack. Battery on a protected person. Battery of an officer. Battery by a prisoner. Intimidating a public officer. Extortion. Even attempted murder. But right now, I am joined by somebody who is not only in that courtroom.

This is somebody who helped fend off the attack. Law Clerk, Michael Lassow is with us now. Michael, what a pleasure to have you on. I'm sure you've heard this a lot, but you're a hero. What you did was unbelievable. So thanks so much for coming on. Well, truly, it's so nice of you to have me here. I mean, and just giving me this opportunity to speak about it and just to come on your show. I mean, it really is. It truly is an honor from my end. And your kind words are so, you know, they're so nice and greatly appreciated, truly. first before how are you doing like do you have any injuries are you feeling okay because you were in the middle of that brawl yeah it was uh it was you know pretty crazy not not your typical day in court

that's for sure um but thankfully uh you know it could have been much worse but it wasn't and i sustained just minimal injuries to my hand um our marshal really took the brute of it uh 25 stitches to the head dislocated shoulder and uh the judge she's doing just fine and the marshal is he doing okay I know those the stitches and dislocated shoulder, but he's doing relatively well, considering. Yeah, yeah, he's actually, he's doing great. He's in good spirits. He's going to be off the job for a while while he's recovering. But to be honest, you know, when all this was going down, he really didn't even care about himself.

He just cared about everyone else. He was asking how the judge is. He was asking how I'm doing. He was asking how everyone else in the courtroom is doing. Meanwhile, you know, he's this huge gash on his forehead and, you know, there's blood everywhere. It was just, you know, it was a crazy scene. So he's doing much better. He actually, that following week, he actually went to work.

He wanted to come to work, but he was told by, I'm guessing, higher-ups he wasn't allowed to. So he was a civilian just to be with his colleagues because he's, that's the kind of guy he is. That's amazing. That's amazing to hear. I mean, everybody that jumped in that day was incredible. So I want you to walk us through a little bit of this. Walk us through what you saw from your perspective. So I kind of laid the ground work.

The sentencing was about to happen. When did you first notice something's going on that he, what did you see from Redden? So honestly, I wasn't really paying too much attention to it. It was kind of the end of calendar. I was thinking that it was kind of just, you know, routine remand. It wasn't going to be anything, you know, really out of the ordinary. So, you know, it was kind of the end of calendar. I was just working on some emails.

And then I noticed right before our March, went into handcuffed the defendant. I noticed him just leap over the defense desk, which is a pretty big desk. And occasionally when you go to remand defendants into custody, occasionally they will make a run for the door. They'll make an exit. And there was an exit door kind of right in front of the defendant at the time. So I was under the impression he was going for the door. So as soon as he jumped over, I'm thinking he's going for the door. He's going to run for it. Usually it doesn't really work out when he's trying to do that. So that was what I was anticipating. I never. expected him to charge at the judge to, you know, essentially leap over that death like he did and I definitely never expected him to make contact. So it was very unusual and I think that's part of the reason why that video blew up the way it did. By the way, talking about injuries, whether those from events lately out in the open like this or not, you know that if you get hurt, it's scary, right? Well, our partner and sponsor of this video, Morgan and Morgan, the largest injury law firm in America may be able to help. You see, Morgan and Morgan will make it super easy for you because

they have completely modernized the process. You submit your claim. You sign contracts. You upload documents. You talk to your whole legal team all on your phone. That's it. An attorney is going to review your case in just eight clicks. They also have 4,000 support staff that can help you through all aspects of the process too, which is just incredible to think about. And if you're concerned about price, only pay them if you win. There's no upfront fee. So if you're injured and want to join the over 3 million people that call them every year. You can submit a claim at for the people.com slash lc sidebar or by dialing pound law. That's pound 529 on your phone. All right. Let's get back to this courtroom lunger. It's incredible. It's incredible and really

disturbing to see. So he jumps over. He attacks Judge Halthus. What did you observe when he's on her? What did you see? Yeah. So I'm sitting directly to the left of Judge. And I actually wasn't supposed to work that day. I study for the bar right now, and they took them. My boss told me that I could have the day off. But it was our first calendar of the year. And I didn't want to, she said I could have the time to study, but I just really wanted to be there. And I'm grateful that I was there. Because if it wasn't me sitting there, essentially, it would have just been the judge. And once you make it over that bench bar, I mean, there's really, you know, it's just you and the judge there. There's not much separating you from, or there's a lot of

separating you from the rest of the courtroom because you're kind of blocked off by this bench bar. So that's why part of the reason why I think it took a little longer than than some people thought for for marshals to to apprehend the defendant. But from my perspective, he just really did that leap. It's a little bit of a blur, to be honest, because it happens so unbelievably fast. But, you know, I just remember him holding on to the judge. I remember saying things to the judge. He kind of had had a grip on her and he had like I said he was saying things to her but I don't I couldn't really make it out because I was saying things to him I was telling him you know get off the judge what are you doing um and that's kind of uh you know the the perspective that that I had was she fighting back

what was she saying I think she was just in shock I mean she was uh you know she was trying to protect herself the best she could um you know I was trying to get the defendant off of him and then eventually the correction officer came helped that we were able to actually get the defendant off. And at that time, like I said, the judge really just went to protect herself. And to be honest, you know, I think a lot of people would have been really shooking up in that sense. But she's a pretty strong woman and a good judge. And she really wasn't shaking up as you might have expected.

She actually afterwards didn't want to go to the hospital. We, you know, not me, but others, you know, told her basically for precautionary reasons she should have. And she did. But I remember going to her afterwards. and she really, same thing, was just wondering how our marshals doing, how I'm doing. She wasn't as shook enough, I think, as others would have. Amazing that everybody in that courtroom was worried about the next person and not themselves. And speaking of which, let's talk about what you did, because you jumped in, started throwing punches at red and walk me through what you were thinking there, what you were hoping to do.

I mean, have you ever been in a fight before? Have you ever been in this kind of circle? I'm sure you've never been in the circumstances, but what, what was? was that like? What made you do that? Well, it's definitely, you know, outside of my wheelhouse, I would say. But, you know, I just wanted to help the best I could. I think anyone sitting in my chair would have done the same, you know, whether that's for Judge Holthus or any other colleague, you know, just jumping into help.

And when I, when the correction officer came over and we were actually able to get the defendant off of the judge, he actually moved from basically attacking the judge to attacking the correction officer. So I kind of backed up. I didn't really want to do more harm than good. I didn't really want to get in the way. But when I noticed that the correction officer was in distress, that's when I jumped back in and try to help the best I could. And was adrenaline kicking in? I mean, you were just like pounding him, hitting him in the back or the head? Like, what were you doing? I was just, I was trying to just help the best I could. Like I said, I saw the officer in distress. And I was just jumping in the best I could to try to just help, you know,

He was a big guy, a big defendant. And, you know, it's a scary situation there. I mean, you're in fear of your own life. You're in fear of the judge's life. You're in fear of everyone else in that courtroom. You know, there's weapons in that courtroom. And it's, you know, it's just a whole situation. I'd say a lot of adrenaline.

And like I said, it's just a lot of shock. I think a lot of people are looking at this and saying, how could this have happened? Was there not enough security in the room? Why wasn't he shackled up? Now, we understand he took a deal. He was going to plead guilty to a lesser charge. So it might have been, he wasn't required to be shackled up.

somebody who's like courtroom security, was there a lacking of it? How did this happen? To be honest, I think if we had, you know, 10 marshals in there that day, I'm not necessarily sure we would have been able to stop it. I mean, it was so unexpected. It was so out of the ordinary. And it happened so unbelievably fast. I mean, it really was in a blink of an eye.

I truly don't believe that the video does justice as to just how fast it was. And we had a marshal directly behind him at the time. I mean, he was directly behind him about to apprehend him when he went and leaped over that defense desk and then went after judge. So, you know, it was just something you don't usually see and don't necessarily anticipate happening. And but hopefully, you know, it's the first and the last time it happens. So he's brought back into court for the sentencing eventually. And like I said, he's fitted with all this year. But were you nervous about seeing him again?

You know, like anyone else, I think, you know, you have maybe a little flashbacks here there. But to be honest, it was just another day. There was a lot of media there, but we had a job to do. The judge had a job to do, and there was nothing stopping the judge from doing her job. And, you know, like I said, it was really just another day, nothing out of the ordinary. I thought it was incredible that the judge said, despite that attack on her, that she didn't change your sentence. She didn't tack on any time. What did you think about that?

Well, you know, unfortunately, I actually can't comment on the sentencing. Unfortunately, I'm sorry about that. But I'm not getting clearance from the court. Well, that's why you're going to be a good lawyer, studying for the bar exam. You know the rules already. When you go back and you look at that, because you've looked at the video, right? There's one thing from you're feeling it, and then you're seeing the video of it, and you're watching yourself responding to it.

What did you think? You know, the first time we had seen the video, it was immediately afterwards. Kind of everyone was in the judge's chamber at the time, trying to figure out everything. We have marshals everywhere. We have, you know, police there. We had, you know, medical professionals. And they all wanted that film pretty quickly to kind of figure out and assess essentially what had happened. And I remember the first time seeing that film and that footage and just realizing how shocking it was.

I mean, from my perspective, I saw that leap and I saw how quick it happened. But when you see it from the other perspective and you see really how impressive that leap was, just how high he had got. I mean, you can, I guess when you first see that video, you can really see why it gained so much traction and got so big. It's just so unusual and honestly impressive. I mean, it's really athletic and something that not many people, I think, could do. It was like a lunge vault there. I mean, it was like from the Olympics. He didn't even touch the desk.

It was crazy to see. He didn't touch the monitors. It was nuts. And I think what was also really just came out of left field is wasn't he saying right before when he was trying to. to advocate for probation, and he's basically a good guy and tries to do the right thing. I know you said you were busy, you were maybe not paying so much attention, but what was he saying right before they came out of left field? Exactly.

I mean, that's part of the reason why it was so unexpected. It's so shocking. I think after his statements, you know, it's just something that you don't expect, you know, you don't expect essentially that person to run and you definitely don't expect him to go after the judge. You know, it was just a crazy, crazy scene that was very unusual. and like I said, hopefully is the last. And real quick, Michael, have any new safety measures been put in court in that courtroom

to make sure nothing like this happens again? You know, I don't necessarily know what security protocols have been implemented since then, to be honest. But I know that I always feel safe in that courtroom. And going back, you know, working since, I've continued to feel safe. And like I said, I mean, it was just such a strange thing that I don't think, you know, You'll see often. And real quick, before we let you go, Michael, what has this experience been like?

Like, what is the feedback you've gotten, the response? Because this blew up. Everybody was talking about this. Yeah. I mean, I knew what it all had happened. I knew some people would see it. Maybe some local channels would pick it up or some friends might have seen it, but I never expected it to get picked up the way it did.

I mean, it really went worldwide. And now when you go into, when you go to work, I mean, we go in our office and there's just letters and letters. I mean, it's nonstop every day, emails, just, you know, well wishes support for myself, the judge, the marshal, you know, it's unbelievable. And these are well wishes, not just from Las Vegas or even the country. I mean, these are well wishes from all over the world. I mean, it really made an impact. So it's just, like I said, I think that's a testament to how just how wild that video was. But it's been incredible.

and it's so humbling. It really is so humbling and so nice. Really, the response has been incredible. Well, watching the video, seeing what you did, I would feel safe next to you too. You did incredible work. I hope you know that you really are a hero that day and you helped everybody. And listen, best of luck on the bar exam. I took it. You'll be fine. Don't burn yourself out. It's all, it's like it's, they would say, it's a marathon, not a race. So just take your time and you're fine. Right. Right. But I appreciate it. Of course. Michael Lassau, thank you so much for taking the time, sir.

Oh, thank you. Seriously, for all the kind of words, this opportunity to come on your show and just be everything. I really do appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, everybody. That is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.