Courtroom Picture Leads to Tazing

HOUSTON (AP) _ A man was stunned with a Taser gun and charged with assault of a public servant after he was accused of taking a picture of a protected witness testifying in a Harris County courtroom.

Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, identified the man as Lamelvin Johnson.

Officials say Johnson, 31, was watching a trial in state District Judge Ruben Guerrero’s court then stood up in the gallery and took a picture with his cell phone.

Because a witness whose identity was being protected was testifying, a bailiff escorted the man out and tried to confiscate the phone.

The Houston Chronicle reports the two struggled and the bailiff shocked the man with the Taser.

Darrell Jordan, a defense attorney who is not connected to the trial, said the man protested that he didn’t take a picture of the witness. He told bailiffs and constable’s deputies that he took a picture of his younger brother, the victim in the case.

It was not immediately known whether Johnson had an attorney.

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