SAN JOSE — Former UFC fighter Cain Velasquez has formally pleaded not responsible to tried homicide, assault and weapons expenses alleging that in February he chased then shot at a person accused of molesting his younger son, and ended up wounding the person’s stepfather.
Velasquez entered the plea Friday in a San Jose courtroom accompanied by his attorneys Alexandra Kazarian and Renee Hessling, with a number of relations and supporters sitting within the court docket gallery.
A preliminary examination — the listening to wherein a decide decides whether or not there may be sufficient proof for a case to proceed to trial — has been set for Sept. 26.
Velasquez, clad in brown jail clothes and carrying a surgical masks over his face, was visibly attentive throughout the listening to and stood up when telling Santa Clara County Superior Courtroom Decide Jessica Delgado, “Sure I do” when she requested him to confirm his plea and that he understood he was waiving his proper to have the preliminary examination inside 10 days.
He briefly gestured to his supporters earlier than he was escorted again to the Predominant Jail in San Jose, the place is he's being held with out bail. His lead lawyer Mark Geragos, who was not in court docket Friday, has petitioned the Sixth District Courtroom of Enchantment to overturn the county superior court docket’s denial of bail to Velasquez.
Each the prosecution and court docket have cited public security considerations in opposing his launch from jail. Geragos has repeatedly argued that top bail, digital monitoring, and protecting orders for the charged victims of the Feb. 28 taking pictures could be ample for securing security and Velasquez’s court docket appearances.
He additionally proposed Velasquez go to an out-of-state rehabilitation facility, after characterizing the 40-year-old’s actions as a response to a household trauma worsened by a traumatic mind harm suffered from his mixed-martial arts profession. Velasquez fought out of San Jose and received two UFC heavyweight title belts.
Decide Shelyna Brown rebuffed the jail options Geragos supplied, selections that he referred to as “unconstitutional” in his enchantment, which as of Friday had not yielded a response from the appellate court docket.
In keeping with police and prosecutors, Velasquez on Feb. 28 adopted Paul Bender and Patricia Goularte as they drove from their house in San Martin to Morgan Hill, the place they have been going to select up their son Harry Goularte Jr. and take him to San Jose to get outfitted for an ankle monitor.
Goularte Jr., 43, was charged in February with one felony depend of a lewd and lascivious act with a baby who has since been broadly recognized as Velasquez’s 4-year-old son. The kid informed his dad and mom about being molested by Goularte Jr. at a home-based San Martin daycare run by his mom. Goularte Jr. was arraigned Feb. 25, and a decide granted him supervised launch.
On Feb. 28, as Bender and Goularte met up with Goularte Jr. in Morgan Hill, Velasquez is alleged to have pushed as much as their automobile and fired a handgun at him, then adopted them as they drove away. The pursuit ended close to Monterey Freeway and Bailey Highway on the southern edges of San Jose, the place Velasquez reportedly fired a number of photographs on the household, wounding Bender. Velasquez was arrested a brief distance away by San Jose police.
Throughout Friday’s listening to, prosecutor Aaron French sparred with Velasquez’s attorneys over their request for proof and discovery from the Goularte case, which they mentioned was essential for them to mount an efficient protection for Velasquez.
French argued the district lawyer’s workplace needed to be selective about what info they may disclose to take care of the integrity of the separate prosecution.
“That case is an ongoing prosecution, an ongoing investigation,” French mentioned.
He additionally affirmed that he didn't intend to name Goularte as a witness within the prosecution of Velasquez, which he contends makes parts of what the protection is requesting irrelevant.
Hessling mentioned that stance is “basically an issue,” and that “quite a lot of what occurred relies on statements that Harry Goularte made to different people.”
“To say he must be fully excised from this equation and faux he doesn't exist … is a fiction,” Hessling added. “It's basically unfair to Mr. Velasquez. (Goularte’s) going to take a task and I believe there are statements he made both to detectives or different percipient witnesses that have to explored by the protection.”
Delgado set an Aug. 29 court docket listening to to determine on the invention matter.
In his bail enchantment, Geragos seized on the prosecution’s plans to not name Goularte Jr. to testify within the Velasquez case. He mentioned that mixed with Bender and Patricia Goularte invoking their Fifth Modification rights in a lawsuit that Velasquez filed in opposition to them and Goularte Jr. over the molestation allegations, the district lawyer’s workplace doesn't have sufficient factual grounding to proceed denying Velasquez bail.
French beforehand mentioned in court docket that Geragos’ argument was speculative and conflated legal and civil court docket procedures, and that any actions within the lawsuit don't have any bearing on the general public security rationale cited by him and Decide Brown over the course of three bail hearings.
A preliminary examination for Goularte within the molestation case is scheduled for Sept. 20.