SAN FRANCISCO — Investigators Thursday were trying to figure out how a murder suspect sneaked a 6-inch metal spike into the Stockton courtroom where he attacked a judge with the handcrafted weapon before a detective shot him to death.
Investigators said a family member had warned them last month that David Paradiso had a weapon, but searches of his jail cell had turned up nothing.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office released photos of the weapon that investigators said the 29-year-old Paradiso used Wednesday to attack San Joaquin Superior Court Judge Cinda Fox during a recess in his trial. Fox suffered minor injuries. A Lodi detective shot Paradiso.
The Sheriff’s Office said bailiffs were in the back of the courtroom at the time of the attack, ejecting Paradiso’s mother and brother after the two caused a disruption. That’s when the defendant lunged at Fox, grabbing the judge from behind.
Paradiso was not shackled during the trial, though he was wearing a leg restraint, authorities said. Paradiso’s attorney, Charles Pacheco, said his client may have hid the weapon in the leg restraint.
Outside the courthouse after the attack, Paradiso’s mother, Debra Paradiso, told reporters she had warned authorities two weeks earlier that her son was mentally unstable and may have had a weapon.
Wednesday afternoon, David Paradiso took the stand and was asked by prosecutors why he had killed his girlfriend, Eileen Pelt.
He responded: “‘Cause she deserved to die.”
Witnesses said Paradiso’s mother then started yelling that her son should not have been on the stand, leading the judge to call a recess. As jurors filed out, Paradiso left the stand and attacked the judge.
Debra Paradiso said she believed her son may have attacked the judge knowing he would be shot.
