Man on trial for punching officer at Elizabeth Smart event

The trial has started for an 80-year-old Indiana man accused of punching a police officer who stopped him from approaching kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart with a knife at a book-signing.

The Terre Haute Tribune-Star reports the judge on Tuesday warned Claude Hudson about his conduct in court, including raising his voice and giving a rambling account of what happened earlier this year. Hudson is representing himself with help from a public defender. He said he wanted to ask Smart questions so he tried to skip ahead of the line. He has pleaded not guilty to a battery charge.

Smart was 14 in 2002 when she was snatched from her bedroom in Salt Lake City and held for nine months. She had been speaking about overcoming adversity at Indiana State University.