Man who jumped a desk to attack a Nevada judge in the courtroom is sentenced

[Zorro]

A man who was captured on video attacking a judge in a Las Vegas courtroom after vaulting over her bench and desk has been sentenced to decades in prison.

Deobra Redden was ordered on Tuesday to serve between 26 and 65 years in a Nevada prison for the attack on Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported.

Redden, 31, pleaded guilty but mentally ill in September to attempted murder and other charges, ending his trial shortly after Holthus had testified that she feared for her life when Redden vaulted over her 4-foot-high (1.2-meter-high) bench and landed on her.

The attack happened Jan. 3 as Holthus was about to deliver Redden’s sentence in a separate felony battery case.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-jumped-desk-attack-nevada-015632623.html

[RockRaven]

1. Is "guilty but mentally ill" a plea option unique to Nevada or do all states have that?

Or is that not really a term of legal art, and just a phrase this writer used for whatever reason?

[Moosepoop]

4. Not unique to Nevada.

Some states allow an insanity defense, some allow "guilty but insane" or "guilty but mentally ill."

Here is what it means in the State of Nevada:

https://law.justia.com/codes/nevada/2010/title14/chapter176/nrs176-057.html

2010 Nevada Code
TITLE 14 PROCEDURE IN CRIMINAL CASES
Chapter 176 Judgment and Execution
NRS 176.057 Effect of finding of guilty but mentally ill or acceptance of such plea.

NRS 176.057 Effect of finding of guilty but mentally ill or acceptance of such plea.

1. If a defendant is found guilty but mentally ill pursuant to NRS 175.533 or the court accepts the defendant's plea of guilty but mentally ill entered pursuant to NRS 174.035, and the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that:

(a) The defendant is not mentally ill at the time of sentencing, the court shall impose any sentence that the court is authorized to impose upon a defendant who pleads or is found guilty of the same offense; or

(b) The defendant is mentally ill at the time of sentencing, the court shall:

(1) Impose any sentence that the court is authorized to impose upon a defendant who pleads or is found guilty of the same offense; and

(2) Include in that sentence an order that the defendant, during the period of confinement or probation, be given or obtain such treatment as is medically indicated for the defendant's mental illness.

2. If the sentence of a defendant includes a period of confinement at a state correctional facility, the Department of Corrections shall separate such a person from the general population of the prison and shall not return the person to that population until a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist employed by the Department finds that the person no longer requires acute mental health care. If the person is returned to the general population, the person must continue to be given or obtain such treatment as is medically indicated for the person's mental illness.

Apparently, this guy was not on his medication for schizophrenia at the time of the attack on the judge. So at the very least, this finding will ensure that he receives his medication during his (lengthy) time in prison.

[struggle4progress]

2. Wait. What? That didn't make a good impression?

[keithbvadu2]

3. Safe bet that he was adequately shackled this time.