It was a wild scene at a Contra Costa County courthouse Monday, as a man on trial for murder allegedly busted his restraints, stabbed his own attorney with a pen, and attacked his prosecutor for good measure too.
If you are the defendant in a violent crime case before a jury, it is probably best that you do not attack your own lawyer, as well as your prosecutor, right in front of that particular jury while your trial is in session. But that’s what reportedly happened Monday morning, as 28-year-old murder suspect Ramello Randle allegedly stabbed his own defense attorney and attacked his prosecutor in an outburst during Contra Costa County Superior Court proceedings, according to the Bay Area News Group.
How does this even happen? Per the News Group, Randle was able to clandestinely “cut through” a restraint device that had him chained to his seat. He then allegedly grabbed the pen of his own defense attorney Matthew Fregi, and stabbed Fregi in the face and head. Randle then allegedly attacked his prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Kevin Bell, leaving Bell with a scratch on his hand. Bell also reportedly took a swing at Randle, before being tackled by a courtroom deputy. He was, of course, arrested yet again.
The defense attorney Fregi is taking this in stride. “It was no big deal,” he told the Bay Area News Group, telling that outlet that he was “fine.”
For his part, the News Group reports that “officials found a handwritten note Randle allegedly penned before the attack that said ‘sorry.’”
Randle is on trial for the alleged July 2020 murder of 24-year-old Jonaye Lahkel Bridges, who was his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child. He’s also accused of the attempted murder of Bridges' male companion, who was also shot in the incident, but only suffered minor injuries.
And golly does Randle have some history of this manner of outburst. His first trial for these alleged crimes was declared a mistrial in November 2022, when Randle (who was representing himself) went on a profanity-laced tirade in the courtroom, telling Judge Charles “Ben” Burch to “shut up, I’m not your bitch.” In a new trial, with Randle no longer allowed to represent himself, Randle took a swing at his own attorney on September 15. That attorney was then replaced by Fregi.
The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday afternoon, unless another mistrial is declared, and closing arguments are scheduled for this week.
Image: Kevin Y. via Yelp
