Baltimore defendant throws metal water pitcher, strikes judge in head after receiving life term: reports
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A judge in Baltimore required medical treatment Wednesday after a defendant she had just sentenced to life in prison grabbed a metal water pitcher and threw it at her, striking her in the forehead, according to reports.
Chief Baltimore Circuit Judge Wanda Keyes Heard didn’t lose consciousness but required unspecified medical attention, the Baltimore Sun reported. Details on her medical condition were not available.
The defendant, Travis Burroughs, 36, had just received a sentence of life behind bars, with all but 70 years suspended, following his conviction in November on sodomy and false imprisonment charges, according to the Sun.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He was immediately taken to be additionally charged with assault in connection with the pitcher incident, authorities said.
“We are the enforcement arm of the court, and we will not allow anyone to assault or intimidate any of the judiciary officers here,” Maj. Sabrina Tapp-Harper, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Sheriff’s Office, told the Sun. “We take this matter tremendously seriously. We will protect this court house and all of the individuals herein.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Burroughs had been convicted and sentenced last year on second-degree rape, assault and false imprisonment, the newspaper reported.
Travis Burroughs, 36, was sentenced Wednesday to life behind bars, with all but 70 years suspended, following his conviction in November on sodomy and false imprisonment charges, authorities say.
The attorney representing Burroughs could not be reached for comment, the Sun reported.
Tapp-Harper said a sheriff’s deputy and a corrections officer were in the courtroom at the time of the incident and quickly subdued the defendant. She added that the sheriff’s office would be reviewing the case to determine what changes, if any, would be needed in its security procedures to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future.
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“After every incident, we always critique the matter to see what we can do better,” she told the Sun.
Burroughs is expected to return to court in January in connection with allegations that he assaulted a corrections employee last May, Baltimore’s WBAL-TV reported.