A Las Vegas district judge who was attacked by a violent offender and fell from his bench in a viral court video is making headlines again for dismissing a “fake elector” case related to the 2020 presidential election news.
Nevada’s Clark County District Judge Mary Kay Holthus on Friday dismissed the state’s indictment against six Republican prosecutors, saying the six Republican prosecutors illegally submitted to Congress certification of former President Donald Trump as president in 2020. Certificate of election winner. Holthus said Democratic Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford’s office chose the wrong venue for the trial.
Clark County, which Holthus governs, is Nevada’s largest county and contains Las Vegas, the state’s most Democratic-leaning city.
Richard Wright, an attorney for one of the defendants, state Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald, accused Ford of presenting the case to a grand jury in Las Vegas rather than Carson City or Reno, the cities in Republican areas of northern Nevada where the defendants allegedly signed agreements and submitted fraudulent documents in an attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory.
Nevada man sentenced to up to 4 years in prison after video goes viral of attacking Clark County judge
Court documents filed by the defendants said the six Republicans met in Carson City, the capital of Nevada, which is located in another county.
“What exactly happened here to give us jurisdiction?” Holthus said at Friday’s hearing, according to the New York Times. “I mean, let’s face it, from my understanding, most of it happened somewhere else.”
The judge canceled a trial scheduled for January that also included Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Law; national party committee member Jim DeGraffenreid; national and Douglas County Board member Shawn Meehan; Story County Clerk Jim Schindel; and Eileen Rice, a party member from the Lake Tahoe area. Each was charged with furnishing a false instrument to file and tell a forged instrument, felonies punishable by up to four to five years in prison.
Defendant Deobra Redden rushes toward Clark County District Judge Mary Kay Holthus during her sentencing hearing in Las Vegas on January 3, 2024. ). (Screenshot/Fox News)
Defense attorneys bluntly declared the case dead, saying taking it now to another grand jury in another location would violate a three-year statute of limitations that expired in December.
The judge ruled that although McDonald and Law lived in Las Vegas, “everything happened up north.”
“Forum shopping? Absolutely,” Rice’s attorney, Monti Jordana Levy, said, according to the Times.
A spokesman for Ford said the state attorney general’s office disagreed with the judge’s decision and “will appeal immediately.”
This isn’t the first time Judge Holthus’ case has attracted national attention.
A few months ago, Holthus was presiding over an unrelated case in Clark County District Court and was preparing to inform defendant Deobra Redden of his punishment on Jan. 3 when Redden Den was denied bail and the scene descended into chaos. Redden was convicted of battery in connection with last year’s baseball bat attack.
Judge Mary Kay Holthus presides over the court on March 4, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervoort/Las Vegas Sun via AP, File)
In a video obtained by Fox News Digital, Layden’s attorney asked the judge to give his client probation.
“I think it’s time for him to try something else,” Holthus replied.
Nathan Wade’s media tour angers Fannie Willis’ Georgia allies: ‘Unnecessary distraction’
The video shows Redden spreading his arms and legs and flying over the bench before landing on top of the judge.
Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald (right) shakes hands with presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump on January 27, 2024 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
The defendant grabbed the judge by her hair and had to be thrown off her by her clerk, Michael Lasso, and several court and prison officials, some of whom threw punches.
Russo was treated for cuts on his hands and a bailiff was hospitalized with a dislocated shoulder and a cut on his forehead. Holthus suffered some injuries but was back at work the next day.
Five days after the attack, Redden was dragged back into court with his hands tied and a net over his face as Holthus completed sentencing on the battery charge, which sentenced him to up to four years in prison.
A grand jury indicted Redden on February 8 on nine counts related to the courthouse attack, including attempted murder, battery on a protected person and threats to extort, KVVU reported.
His attorney, Carl Arnold, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on his client’s behalf, saying Redden had stopped taking his medication and was in a “delusional state” at the time of the attack.
In late March, Redden’s trial was postponed from April until at least September.
On January 8, 2024, Deobra Redden appeared again in the Las Vegas District Judicial District in a viral video attacking District Judge Mary Kay Holthus Center, completing Holthus’s sentence. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Nevada is one of seven presidential battleground states where prosecutors have filed “fake elector” cases related to Trump’s 2020 campaign. Other states include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The cases are all scheduled to go to trial before the 2024 presidential election.
Friday’s decision comes after a similar case was postponed indefinitely while Georgia investigates Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ relationship with a prosecutor she hired.
Click here to get the Fox News app
A federal case from Washington, D.C., has also been delayed until the Supreme Court rules on Trump’s immunity claims.
The Nevada case, filed in December, focused on the conduct of six defendants. Three other states had more concentrated criminal cases – 16 in Michigan, 19 in Georgia and 18 in Arizona.
Meehan is the only Nevada defendant not nominated by the state to be a delegate to the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next month.
Fox News’ Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
