Who is Mary Kay Holthus? Clark County judge gets attacked in courtroom after denying man probation 

Clark County District Judge Mary Kay Holthus was violently attacked in the courtroom after she denied Deobra Redden probation on Wednesday, January 3. In the video which has gone viral across the internet, the latter can be seen jumping on the former’s table in attempts to cause harm to the judge. The defendant is now facing battery charges.

According to USA Today, Deobra Redden’s attorney requested the judge to grant the defendant probation. The 30-year-old was brought into the courtroom to be sentenced on a charge of attempted battery with substantial bodily harm.

This comes after he had pleaded guilty and had been convicted of three felony charges including battery with substantial bodily harm in 2018, battery constituting domestic violence in 2021, and attempted theft in 2015.

In 2016, he was also convicted of a misdemeanor charge of battery. He faced a similar charge of destruction of property in 2023 as well.

Moments before Redden attacked Mary Kay Holthus, the former said:

“I feel like I shouldn’t be sent to prison, but if it’s appropriate for you, then you gotta do what you gotta do.”

As the proceedings continued, with Redden’s attorney requesting probation, Judge Holthus said before the violent attack:

“I appreciate that but I think it’s time he gets a taste of something else because I just can’t with that history.”

This led to Deobra Redden shouting expletives before attacking the judge who was present at the courtroom bench. In videos going viral, the former can be seen getting restrained by security officers.

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Mary Kay Holthus was elected to the Clark County District bench in 2018

The Eighth Judicial District Court, Clark County, Nevada judge, Mary Kay Holthus took the bench in 2018. She retained her seat in subsequent elections as well. She resumed the position after spending more than 27 years in the service of the Clark County District Attorney’s Office.

She entered the office in 1991. Holthus initially practiced general litigation but eventually joined the Crimes Against Women and Children Unit, where she spent 16 years prosecuting domestic violence, child abuse, and s*xual abuse cases.

Judge Mary Kay Holthus received her bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton and went on to receive her J.D. from Villanova University’s Charles Widger School of Law in 1989.

The upstate New York native is married and parents to three grown children.

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What additional charges is Deobra Redden facing?

Following the attack on Judge Mary Kay Holthus, Deobra Redden was booked to the Clark County Detention Center where he is facing additional charges of battery and battery on a protected person resulting in substantial bodily harm and also two counts of battery on a protected person.

After a court alarm went off following the attack, a marshal involved in the altercation was sent to the hospital. Another police officer confirmed that Judge Holthus was unharmed.

Richard Scow, the chief county district attorney who prosecuted Redden for attacking a person with a baseball bat addressed the recent attack. Scow said in an interview with Washington Times- “it happened so fast it was hard to know what to do.”

Redden’s attorney Caesar Almase had not publicly addressed the fight at the time of writing this article.