Veteran defense attorneys have weighed in on the Cain Velasquez shooting incident with some believing he ‘threw his life away’.
Cain Velasquez has spent the last three months behind bars after he allegedly got into a high speed chase and shot at Harry Goularte, a man accused of molesting a four year old relative of the fighter. While the shot missed Goularte, bullets struck his stepfather instead.
Valesquez is currently facing 10 charges, including attempted murder. There will be a bail hearing today, May 16th, followed by a plea hearing on June 10th.
Velasquez has a lot of supporters but attorneys believe the optics of the case, a father taking the law into his own hands, may prove problematic in the courtroom.
In speaking with ‘MMA Fighting‘ several defense attorneys weighed in on what Cain Velasquez is up against.
Veteran defense attourney Steve Cooley had this to say about the upcoming trial:
“This is not a complicated case. Anyone who says it’s nuanced because his motive was to get even for the (alleged) molestation of someone he loved, that that somehow mitigates it — not really. There’s no defense of, ‘I got mad because he really hurt someone I loved.”
“He needs to be mentally evaluated by legitimate medical professionals … because something went wrong with him.”
Defense attorney Javier Rios also weighed in saying:
“In other words, can you show that this was not premeditated, that this was somehow done impulsively, without deliberating. The first thing you try to do is get him out from under first-degree murder, because first-degree murder carries serious penalties.”
Continuing Rios said:
“In this case that’s tough, because he apparently showed some deliberation. Getting the tools necessary to try to kill somebody, a prosecutor will typically use those as circumstantial evidence that show that this person has a frame of mind for for first-degree — deliberating what he was trying to do.That does not typically look like someone just impulsively reacting. It sure has the earmarks of somebody that knows what they want to do, gets the tools for what they want to do, and then sets out to do precisely what they intended to do.”
Attorney Alison Triessl shared her thoughts on Cain Velasquez saying:
“Even if a jury says, ‘We can understand the anger and we can understand how this could lead a normally law-abiding person to react this way,’ there’s really no excuse for him shooting into a car and striking Mr. Bender.”
It is true that Velasquez best chances may be to reach a plea deal, claim brain trauma from his MMA fighting days or, in the case of a trial, press for a hung jury that forces a re-trial.
Time will tell, but it sounds like Velasquez has an up hill battle if he wants to get out and stay out of prison.