California Deputy Attorney General Tackled By Bailiff In Courtroom

SAN LUIS OBISPO (CBS13) — Surveillance video shows California's deputy attorney general being tackled by a bailiff in a courtroom after a discussion with the opposing counsel.

Sacramento attorney Donald Heller sat stunned as he reviewed the courtroom scene that played out in San Luis Obispo.

"It was totally unnecessary," he said. "It felt unprofessional, and I've been doing this for 46 years."

There's no audio, but the video from the SLO Tribune during a recess in an October trial shows deputy attorney general Jennie Mariah Kelly, a military veteran with a career that spans 21 years in a discussion with the opposing counsel.

At one point a bailiff intervened, telling her to calm down. The sheriff's department contends Kelly was speaking loudly and acting in an unprofessional manner.

But it doesn't end there. The deputy grabs her hands, and she pushes him away, after which he throws her to the ground.

The sheriff's department says Kelly didn't leave the courtroom when asked, and when the bailiff tried to escort her, they say she resisted.

"She was forced to the ground, she had her head pressed up against a metal rail, after doing absolutely nothing wrong," said her attorney Kara Stein-Conaway.

She says her client was simply in a spirited discussion and the bailiff had no justification to react to her in the way that he did.