An Ohio man sucker-punched his attorney Tuesday after he was sentenced to 47 years in prison, shocking courtroom video shows.
A 31-second video obtained by WJW shows David Chislton, 42, of Warrensville Heights, being subdued during the attack in a Cuyahoga County courtroom after Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo sentenced him to more than four decades in prison for pistol-whipping his girlfriend and setting his apartment complex on fire in 2017.
Spectators inside the courtroom can be heard on the footage jeering and screaming as deputies take down Chislton during what witnesses called a “pretty heinously violent” attack.
“I was watching the sentencing of the defendant, it was a pretty intense situation,” attorney Michael Goldberg told Cleveland.com. “The judge had given him a long sentence and for a moment, he tried to object to the sentence and then he basically just wheeled around and punched his defense lawyer — who was standing to his left — with both hands.”
Goldberg said Chislton’s hands were shackled in front of his body instead of the customary practice of behind his back, allowing him to use both of his hands and the handcuffs to send Aaron Brockler violently to the floor.
“But the deputies, to their credit, were on him immediately and had him incapacitated within a couple of seconds,” Goldberg continued. “But it was pretty heinously violent.”
The incident left Brockler with a broken nose, a possible concussion and injuries to his face, including a small cut.
“It was pretty fun,” he later joked to Cleveland.com.
Russo, meanwhile, was in a less playful mood when recalling Chislton’s outburst, even fighting back tears during an interview.
“People don’t understand what we go through in this building on a daily basis,” she told Cleveland.com.
Chislton, who could have received more than 100 years behind bars, also bit Brockler’s leg before Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Jeff Schnatter dragged the attorney away from Chislton while scrambling on the courtroom floor.
Brockler told WJW that the length of the sentence apparently surprised Chislton, who will face new charges in connection with the outburst.
“I’m lucky that he didn’t get his hands around me and choke me out with the cuffs, or you know, he could’ve got to the judge,” Brockler told the station. “It’s not a good situation to be cuffed in the front, in my opinion.”
Source: Read Full Article