Cain Velasquez denied bail again in attempted murder case ‘This was such a reckless disregard for human life’

Former UFC Heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez, will remain in jail after Judge Shelyna Brown denied him bail for a second time during a recent court hearing earlier today in his attempted murder case.

“This was such a reckless disregard for human life,” Brown said during the hearing. “In this case it is not just Mr. Goularte and his family. It is every single citizen who was in danger of being shot or rammed with the vehicle at the time of this seven-mile chase.

“So this court is not thinking of not only of Mr. Goularte and his family, but this court is considering every single citizen in Santa Clara county who was in proximity to this alleged incident,” she added.

According to MMA Fighting, Paul Bender — the man who was shot during the incident — claimed he suffered nerve damage and lost use of three of his fingers, which has prevented him from being able to work since the shooting.

“Cain Velasquez has no respect for human life,” Bender said. “He does not care about the rule of law. If given the opportunity, I think he will try to finish what he started.”

Valesquez is currently facing 10 charges, including attempted murder. He could face 20 or more years of jail time if convicted.

The alleged incident happened in February in San Jose, California wherein Velasquez reportedly opened fire at a truck and subsequently went on an ‘11-mile high-speed chase.’ 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 (Paul Bender) instead.

A group of veteran defense attorneys spoke to MMA Fighting about Velasquez’s chances when his case eventually goes to trial.

“This is not a complicated case,” veteran defense attorney Steve Cooley told MMA Fighting. “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 this case, that’s tough, because he apparently showed some deliberation,” Rios explained. “Getting the tools necessary to try to kill somebody, a prosecutor will typically use those as circumstantial evidence that shows that this person has a frame of mind 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.”

“If you cannot beat the charges, you’re just trying to get mitigation. Perhaps the fact that the alleged victim, if they can in fact show that he was molesting this loved one from the defendant, arguably that is a mitigator and perhaps that can be used to try and get [Velasquez] a better deal.”

While the case is still ongoing, lawyers ultimately see a bleak outcome, and none pf them sounded hopeful for an easy defense for Velasquez.

“It’s sad. He threw his life away,” Cooley said. “But you know what, it happens every day. … He threw his life away in a moment of pique, anger, uncontrolled emotion, thinking he could take justice into his own hands.”