‘My jaw hit the ground;’ Viral courtroom video has local judge grateful for safety protocols

DAYTON — A viral video showing a man attacking a Las Vegas judge during a hearing is sending shock waves through the judicial system around the country.

In the video, a 30-year-old man, upset about being denied bond, leaped over barriers and attacked the judge.

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“My jaw hit the ground. I could not even believe that,” Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Mary Montgomery said.

Montgomery watched in amazement, just like many other courtroom workers, at the video. She told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell that it is a scene that is concerning for every judge.

“It is because we have to make decisions on a daily basis that affect people’s lives,” she said.

As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office has put in a lot of work at the courthouse over the last four years to upgrade security to keep something like that from happening here.

“We’ve been able to get upgraded cameras both inside and outside the courthouse and we also have now our first centralized command center that all those cameras go into,” Montgomery County Major Jeremy Roy said.

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Roy said money has also been spent upgrading safety features inside courtrooms, protecting judges as much as possible as they interact with people who come before them.

“There is a blurring of the lines of the respect for the court and the court’s tough job of making these really hard decisions on a daily basis,” Montgomery said.

She and most other judges respect every person who comes into their courtrooms, and she prays that respect will continue to be returned.

“We have to have parameters in place to make sure their reaction doesn’t come forward in a way that results in a new charge of assault, especially assault on a judge,” she said.

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