Man sucker-punches accused killer of toddler son during court hearing

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Never mind court-imposed justice, Tonio Hughes was looking for a little payback of his own.

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The eye-for-an-eye kind.

In an incident caught on video in an Ohio courtroom, Hughes attacked the man accused of murdering his biological son, Desean Brown, 22, and rained down punches in the hopes of exacting some frontier justice in the form of a beatdown.

In the video footage, which was obtained by Fox19.com, Hughes can be seen sitting in the back row of the Hamilton County courtroom during a pre-trial hearing for Brown, who had been charged with murder, before launching himself at the defendant. Hughes landed a sucker-punch on Brown then rained down a handful of blows before sheriff’s deputies jumped in and restrained him.

“Everything inside him, just the pain and everything took over,” family friend Faith Burton told Fox19.com. “He did what I think any of us would do. I couldn’t live without my child either, you know?

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“So I get his emotions, I get why he acted out in court today.”

Brown was in court for allegedly stabbing 29-year-old Nyteisha Lattimore to death and allegedly throwing her three-year-old son Nylo, Hughes’ son, into the Ohio River while he was still alive in December 2020. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Hughes was found in contempt of court by Judge Megan Shanahan following the attack on Brown and sentenced to seven days in the Hamilton County Justice Center.

“Judge Megan Shanahan and the Hamilton Sheriff’s Office would like to emphasize that this behavior will not be tolerated in the courthouse,” Hamilton County Sheriff’s PIO Kyla Woods told Fox19.com.

Lattimore’s body was found near the Purple People Bridge on Dec. 12, 2020. Nylo’s body has not been recovered.