Felon Attacks His Lawyer in Courtroom : Violence: Veteran defense attorney is unhurt in the assault with a makeshift plastic knife. Judge orders county marshal’s office to investigate how the inmate snuck the weapon into the Santa Ana court.

SANTA ANA — A courtroom erupted in chaos Friday after a convicted carjacker attacked his defense lawyer with a makeshift plastic knife moments after receiving a life sentence under California’s new “three-strikes” law.

Attorney Jerome J. Goldfein was not hurt, and marshal’s deputies quickly tackled the man, who was sentenced to 30 years to life in state prison.

Witnesses said the attacker, John Patrick McGuire, 24, of Riverside, apparently smuggled the five-inch knife inside an envelope containing a handwritten letter he intended to read before Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard L. Weatherspoon.

McGuire never read the letter. Instead, he leaned close to his lawyer after the judge pronounced the sentence and pulled the blade out of the envelope. McGuire wordlessly stabbed at Goldfein while his wrists were still handcuffed. The blade bent and glanced off Goldfein’s shoulder, witnesses said.

“You don’t expect it to happen,” said Goldfein, a 53-year-old veteran defense lawyer in Santa Ana. “We always had good relations.”

The judge cleared the courtroom while deputies removed McGuire, an ex-convict from Riverside County. Weatherspoon told the marshal’s office to investigate how the inmate was able to smuggle a weapon into court.

Lawyers who read McGuire’s handwritten letter said it contained legal notations and complaints about his attorney’s performance.

“Most defendants are angrier at their attorneys than they are at the prosecutors,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen Harper, who prosecuted the carjacking case. “They think they’re going to be saviors, and when they’re not. . . .”

Weatherspoon declined to read the letter aloud and handed it to marshals along with the sharpened plastic blade.

The three-strikes law mandates prison sentences of 25 years to life for defendants with at least two prior convictions for violent or serious felonies.

McGuire, whose two earlier convictions were for burglary and attempted robbery in 1989, was found guilty last month in connection with a 1994 carjacking at a Westminster Lexus dealership.

Authorities said McGuire, who had been released from prison the same day as the carjacking after serving a term for auto theft, pretended to be car shopping but pushed aside the sales agent and drove off. An acquaintance of McGuire’s later stole the car from him but was caught after being stopped for speeding, Harper said.

McGuire’s sentence included the base term of 25 years to life, plus five years for having a serious previous felony.

About a dozen lawyers and spectators were in the courtroom.

A witness said McGuire was nonchalant during the morning sentencing. “He was sitting there, laughing, smiling, like ‘That’s the way it goes,’ ” said Ken Murray, who was waiting to watch a separate hearing.

Murray said McGuire, seated at the defense table, reached into an envelope he had pulled from his jail jumpsuit. Without warning, McGuire raised his shackled hands and stabbed at Goldfein three times, Murray said.

Attorney Julian W. Bailey said courtroom deputies reacted rapidly.

“I saw the guy on Jerry and the deputies take [McGuire] to the floor,” Bailey said. “The deputies were great.”

Deputy Rudy Mena dashed across the courtroom and tackled McGuire to the floor. “He kind of knew the gig was up,” Mena said.

Bailey, in the courtroom briefly on behalf of accused killer Edward Patrick Morgan, said the incident “causes us all to reassess our feeling of security.”