Murdered Victim's Friends Assault Defendant During Wild Courthouse Brawl

Officials have just released video of a wild brawl that occurred last month in a Tacoma, WA courthouse.

The video shows police escorting a murder suspect through the halls when friends of the deceased victim storm past a guard, rush the defendant, and start beating him. Police eventually subdue the attackers, but only after using stun guns:

According to the News Tribune, the 20-year-old defendant, Marsele Henderson, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 18-year-old Victor Schwenke in November 2008.

The Tribune offers more details about the incident:

Henderson’s trial was marked by a melee outside Superior Court Judge John McCarthy’s courtroom June 30 when three friends of Schwenke’s attacked the defendant as he was being led back to jail after a hearing.

Three corrections officers and Henderson suffered minor injuries in the attack, in which the defendant was knocked down, punched and kicked.

Deputy prosecutors charged the alleged attackers with multiple counts of assault.

But the attack was just one of a string of incidents related to the case. The Tribune reports that "someone torched the car of a prosecution witness, and another witness was angrily confronted outside court after testifying."

Henderson has not yet been sentenced.