Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette today announced that Joshua Harding, 35, of Okemos, pleaded guilty to three felony charges related to his August 2016 courtroom attack on Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Roth.Harding entered his plea before Judge William Collette in Ingham County Circuit Court on Monday, February 13, 2017. He pleaded guilty to the following:
- Assault To Commit Murder, a felony punishable by up to life in prison;
- Carrying A Concealed Weapon, a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison, and;
- Possession of a Weapon in Jail, a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
An additional charge of terrorism was dismissed by the judge in January 2017.
Harding is scheduled to be sentenced on March 15, 2017.
“Prosecutors like Mr. Roth go to work every day and seek to provide justice for Michigan victims and Mr. Harding
brazenly threatened his ability to do that,” said Schuette. “I am grateful that this case is growing closer to a close and want to once again commend the quick action of the officers involved in thwarting this attack, if not for their actions the result of this attack could have been much worse.”
Case Background
On August 2, 2016, just prior to a jury convicting Harding of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, he removed a shank from his shirt sleeve and rushed towards Assistant Prosecutor Roth attempting to stab him in the head in the middle of an open court room in downtown Lansing.
Harding was sentenced to at least 19 years in prison on September 21, 2016 on the Ingham County Criminal Sexual Conduct charge he was in court for at the time of the attack.
Harding was charged in the court room attack on September 22, 2016. He was charged as a Habitual Offender.
