Video footage from inside an Oregon courthouse shows a defendant reaching for a police officer’s gun before being taken to the ground by a jail deputy.
The defendant was seated two seats away from the officer, who was at the counsel table to testify in the trial, when the defendant quickly got up and lunged for the gun.
While the officer backed away, a jail deputy came from behind and tackled the defendant to the ground.
“Due to the swift actions from the officer and deputies involved, none of the parties sustained any serious injuries, jail medical staff treated one of the deputies for minor scrapes and abrasions. The defendant was un-restrained during this court appearance,” the office stated.
“There would have been a shootout in the courthouse,” McDowall said. “I don’t like to think about it. It would have been scary.”
The office said that the defendant, Scott Patrick Lemmon, 27, was secured and returned to jail.
He had been on trial for charges of robbery, burglary, theft, menacing, and coercion. He was convicted on all charges and could face additional charges after the courthouse incident.
Can’t Shackle
A 9th Circuit Court ruling in the fall of 2017 found the practice of shackling or otherwise restraining criminal defendants without a specific finding by a judge unconstitutional.“At the heart of our criminal justice system is the well-worn phrase, innocent until proven guilty,” Kozinski wrote for the court.
“And while the phrase may be well-worn, it must also be worn well: We must guard against any gradual erosion of the principle it represents, whether in practice or appearance.”
The ruling prompted many courthouses in the United States to dramatically change their rules for restraining criminal defendants.
Sgt. McDowall said that the Oct. 10 incident is the first serious incident that has taken place in Lincoln County since the ruling.
