The same Las Vegas-area judge was attacked by a violent criminal who threw himself on the bench in a viral courtroom video, and has made headlines again for dismissing a “fraudulent elector” case related to the 2020 presidential election.
Clark County, Nevada, District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus dismissed the battleground state’s indictment on Friday against six Republicans Prosecutors say the certificates certifying Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election were illegally submitted to Congress. In doing so, the office of Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, chose the wrong venue for the case, Holthus said.
Clark County, where Holthus governs, is Nevada’s largest county and includes Las Vegas, the state’s most Democratic-leaning city.
Richard Wright, an attorney for one of the defendants, state GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, accused Ford of taking the case before a grand jury in Las Vegas rather than in Carson City or Reno, northern Nevada cities in more Republican territory, where the defendants allegedly signed and submitted fraudulent documents as part of a scheme to overturn President Biden’s victory.
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Court documents filed by the defendants argue that the meeting of the six Republicans was held in Carson City, the capital of Nevada, which is located in a different county.
“What exactly happened here to give us jurisdiction?” Holthus said during Friday’s hearing, according to the report. new York Times“I mean, let’s say it’s true that most of these incidents have happened elsewhere, as I read it.”
The judge canceled a January hearing for Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Law, national party committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid, national and Douglas County committeemen Shawn Meehan, Story County Clerk Jim Hindle and Lake Tahoe-area party member Eileen Rice, who all were charged with presenting a false document and uttering a forged document — offenses that are punishable by up to four or five years in prison.
Defendant Debra Redden strides toward Clark County District Judge Mary Kay Holthus during a sentencing hearing on Jan. 3, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Screenshot/Fox News)
Defense lawyers apparently declared the case closed, saying bringing it now before a grand jury elsewhere would violate a three-year statute of limitations that expired last December.
The judge ruled that even though MacDonald and Law live in Las Vegas, “everything happened up north.”
“Forum shopping? Absolutely,” Rice’s attorney, Monty Jordana Levy, said, according to the Times.
A Ford spokesman said the state attorney general’s office disagrees with the judge’s decision and “will immediately appeal.”
This is not the first time a case involving Judge Holthus has attracted national attention.
While presiding over an unrelated case a few months earlier, Holthus was preparing to tell defendant Deobara Redden of her sentence in a Clark County District Courtroom on Jan. 3 when Redden was denied bail and chaos ensued for a baseball bat assault last year.
Judge Mary Kay Holthus presides in a Las Vegas courtroom on March 4, 2024. (Wade Vandervoort/Las Vegas Sun via AP, File)
In a video obtained by Fox News Digital, Redden’s attorney urged the judge to grant his client probation.
“I think it’s time they got a taste of something else,” Holthus responded.
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The video shows Redden flying into the air over the bench, then falling on top of the judge with his arms and legs wide open.
Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald (right) shakes hands with presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump in Las Vegas on January 27, 2024. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
The defendant grabbed the judge by the hair and was pulled away by the judge’s clerk, Michael Lasso, and several court and prison officers, some of whom punched him.
He was treated for cuts on his hands from the lasso and one marshal was hospitalised with a dislocated shoulder and a cut to his forehead. Holthus suffered some bruises but was back at work the next day.
Five days after the attack, Redden, with his hands bound and face in netting, was brought back to court, where Holthus meted out the sentence for assault, sending him to prison for up to four years.
On February 8, a grand jury indicted Redden on nine charges in connection with the courtroom attack, including attempted murder, assault on a protected person, and extortion by means of threats. KVVU reported,
His attorney, Carl Arnold, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on his client’s behalf, arguing that Redden was not taking his medications and was “confused” at the time of the attack.
In late March, the start of the trial against Redden was postponed from April until at least September.
Deobara Redden, who was seen in a viral video attacking District Judge Mary Kay Holthus, will appear before Holthus again on January 8, 2024, at the Las Vegas Regional Justice Center to begin serving her sentence. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Nevada is one of seven presidential election states where prosecutors brought “fraudulent voter” cases related to Trump’s 2020 campaign. The others are ArizonaGeorgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. None of these cases will be heard before the 2024 presidential election.
Friday’s decision comes after a similar case in Fulton County, Georgia, was indefinitely postponed amid an investigation District Attorney Fani Willis‘ He had a bad relationship with the prosecutor he appointed.
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A federal case in Washington, DC, has also been put on hold pending a Supreme Court decision. Trump’s immunity claims,
The Nevada case, filed last December, focused on the actions of six defendants. Criminal cases in three other states focus on many more people — 16 in Michigan, 19 in Georgia and 18 in Arizona.
Meehan is the only defendant in Nevada who has not been named by the state party as a delegate to the 2024 Republican National Convention, to be held in Milwaukee next month.
Fox News’ Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
