SAN JOSE — The trial of Cain Velasquez — the former mixed martial arts champion accused of trying to kill a man accused of molesting his child and instead shooting the man’s stepfather after a long car chase in the South Bay — is scheduled to begin September 9. the judge ruled Wednesday.
Expected start date in Santa Clara County Superior Court would be nearly two years after another judge determined there was enough evidence for Velasquez, who fought professionally in San Jose, to stand trial for attempted murder and nine counts of assault with a weapon. This would also happen more than two and a half years after the shooting, which occurred in late February 2022.
Judge Elizabeth Peterson also scheduled a pretrial hearing Wednesday for June 26 to determine whether the prosecution and defense will be ready to go to trial in September.
Velasquez has been out of custody since he was granted $1 million bail and supervised release after the November 2022 preliminary exam that sent his case to court.
Since then, he has been allowed to compete in wrestling and mixed martial arts events in California and Arizona, under his conditions of release that allow court-approved business travel. He also coached at the American Kickboxing Academy, the San Jose school he represented during his rise to becoming a UFC heavyweight titleholder over the previous decade.
Velasquez was not required to appear in court for Wednesday’s hearing after obtaining a waiver from the court, and primarily let his attorney, Renee Hessling, appear on his behalf for an entire year of pretrial hearings, while she and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. worked on procedural issues.
Velasquez’s attorney said after Wednesday’s hearing that she did not know if she would be ready for a trial in early September. She has subpoenaed medical records and other information, but the documents are incomplete, she said, declining to describe the records and information.
Velasquez, 41, is accused of shooting Harry Goularte Jr. at least twice while he was traveling with his mother Patricia Goularte and stepfather Paul Bender, who allegedly drove him from Morgan Hill to San Jose on February 28, 2022 to be equipped. for an ankle monitor in a county office. Three days earlier, Goularte Jr. was arraigned on charges of lewd and lascivious act with a child, based on allegations that he abused Velasquez’s son at a San Martin home daycare run by his mother. Goularte Jr. was granted supervised release over the objection of prosecutors.
Bender was injured at the end of the Feb. 28 encounter, which included a lengthy car chase that ended with Velasquez allegedly shooting at the family in the middle of afternoon traffic near Monterey Road and from Bailey Avenue.
Goularte Jr., 45, has since been ordered to stand trial, but the case is still in the trial phase from which Velasquez just emerged.
Velasquez faces life in prison if convicted of the charges against him. His lawyers have said in previous court filings that Velasquez suffered from impulse control issues and brain damage from his career in mixed martial arts.
They also hinted that they might pursue a proxy lawsuit for the sexual assault charge against Goularte Jr. and argue that Velasquez was acting in response to the criminal justice system that had failed his family . Velasquez sues Goularte Jr. and his parents for alleged sexual abuse; the trial’s progress was suspended pending the outcome of the criminal case.
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