Courtroom incident shows why 6 security officers are needed at sentencings, lawman says
An incident in a Georgia courtroom this week shows why it’s important to have at least six security officers on hand for sentencings, as local policy requires, a lawman says.
After hearing Monday that he was going to spend at least 20 years in prison for his role the armed robbery of a pizza delivery driver, Taiun Davis, 21, started shouting expletives at the judge as he explained the appeal process in the Dougherty County Superior Court case, reports WALB.
Davis then stood up from the defense table in the Albany courtroom and started to walk toward the prosecution table, a courtroom video provided by the station shows. Security officers converged on him from multiple points in the courtroom and took him down to the floor. Davis then returned him to the defense table, and the sentencing proceeded.
“This went very smoothly. It can go the other way just as easily,” said Captain Craig Dodd of the county sheriff’s office. “If you are fully prepared before it happens, you can react quickly and basically extinguish any problems. We did not have to use any lethal force on him, or any kind of less-than-lethal weapons.”
The Albany Herald and an earlier WALB story differ as to exactly how much time Davis got, but the shortest sentence reported was 30 years with a minimum 20 years to serve.
