United States v. Watts

Watts brought a federal civil rights suit against a police officer whom Watts accused of having broken his arm while arresting him. When the judge announced the verdict, in favor of the officer, Watts stood up, picked up the 44 lb. chair that he’d been sitting on, and swinging it in a 180 degree arc to gain momentum hurled it at the officer, who was sitting only two or three feet away. The chair struck the officer on his head, face, left arm, left shoulder, and back, injuring him. Pandemonium broke out in the courtroom, all recorded on video. Watts shouted “Now we’re even.” Watts was convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm, 18 U.S.C. 113(a)(3). He was sentenced to five years in prison (half the statutory maximum). The Seventh Circuit affirmed, calling Watts a “dangerous person, a dangerous example of a holder of grudges against the police, a person with no regard for the decorum of the courtroom or for the law itself, a scofflaw, a violent person.” The court rejected challenges to the jury instructions and to the sentence. View "United States v. Watts" on Justia Law