Man punches attorney in head after being convicted of murder

TUCSON, Ariz. – A Tucson man just convicted of murder in the stabbing death of his girlfriend waited until jurors left the courtroom before turning and punching one of his defence lawyers in the side of the head.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that sheriff’s deputies then wrestled 28-year-old Chet Jack Wadsworth Maley to the floor as additional deputies ran into the courtroom Friday.,

When court resumed, Maley wasn’t in the courtroom and paramedics arrived to tend to attorney Craig Kessler.

The judge presiding over the case then granted a motion by another defence lawyer to allow public defenders to withdraw as Maley’s counsel and appointed a contracted attorney to represent Maley in his May 13 sentencing in the killing of Roxanne Ortiz and in an assault case stemming from the courtroom attack.