A union representing Las Vegas defense attorneys is backing a deputy public defender who was handcuffed in court for failing to quit arguing to keep a client out of jail.
The Clark County Defenders Union calls Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Conrad Hafen's decision to have Zohra Bakhtary taken into custody for several minutes last Monday "unreasonable and unprecedented."
The group also complains that the court failed to have a standard courtroom video and audio recording system activated.
Hafen says he ordered Bakhtary taken into custody to teach her a lesson about courtroom decorum and etiquette.
A transcript showed Bakhtary kept talking and the judge warned her several times that she faced being held in contempt for interrupting while he tried to rule in a probation violation case.