Melee Disrupts Murder Case Hearing

SPRINGFIELD - A Springfield man is being held on $10,000 cash bail after starting a courtroom melee during a murder case hearing on Monday, according to court records.

Vandrell Johnson, 24, of 29 Rush St., pleaded innocent in Springfield District Court yesterday before Judge William J. Boyle on charges of assault and battery and disrupting court proceedings. He is being held at the Hampden County Correctional Facility in Ludlow.

At a motion hearing of a murder case at about 12:45 p.m. on Monday, Johnson, a spectator, charged after the two of the case's defendants, Aaron Lester and Derrick Washington, as they were being led into a courtroom of Hampden Superior Court by court officers, according to court records.

Johnson, who is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 337 pounds, leaped out of the spectators' gallery and grabbed Lester before court officers could tackle him and detain him, according to court records. The reason for the attack is unclear.

1 posted on 04/05/2006 10:51:16 PM PDT by CAWats

Johnson, who is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 337 pounds, leaped out of the spectators' gallery...

I gotta see this. Oh that reminds me, the big guy on Lost went after the smart mouth. This and other vicarious thrills brought to you by Freerepublic.

2 posted on 04/06/2006 12:00:49 AM PDT by carumba (The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made. Groucho)

Could this be the result of liberal judges and a lack of the death penalty in many states?

The vigilante movement is being reborn?

3 posted on 04/06/2006 12:14:52 AM PDT by Candor7 (Into Liberal Flatulence Goes the Hope of the West)

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