Quick work, personal relationships put AP ahead on video of attack on judge in Las Vegas

By Ken Ritter, Ty O’Neil and Rio Yamat

Reporter Ken Ritter in Las Vegas opened up an email from a trusted
lawyer that offered little more than a link to a courthouse video that was
circulating on a local courts blog and a question: Have you seen this? Several
minutes into the video, a defendant leaped over a table and the judge’s bench
and attacked her. It happened after the defendant tried to convince the judge
that he was turning from his violent past and after she hinted he would get
prison time nonetheless.

Quick action by Ritter, Las Vegas videographer Ty O’Neil and Las
Vegas reporter Rio Yamat allowed the AP to confirm more information, including
the defendant’s name, from a court supervising bailiff, provide more context
from the case itself and from witnesses, get clearance of the video from the
court and detail the events of the video for publication.

The story with the customer-ready video linked was No. 3 on the APNews
site, outpaced only by the Iowa shooting and Epstein documents. The video had
more than 17,000 views on Instagram — by far the most of any posting on AP’s
Instagram page in 2024. A day after the attack, the court said it would
investigate revising its security in courtrooms.