UFC LEGEND Cain Velasquez has been granted $1million bail after pleading not guilty to the attempted murder of a man accused of sexually assaulting his young son.
The 40-year-old, who is a two-time heavyweight champion, has spent eight months behind bars following the alleged assault on the four-year-old.
He was freed after a near 13 hour two-day pre-trial hearing in Santa Clara County which charged him with attempted murder and other-gun related charges.
Judge Arthur Bocanegra said: âThis incident is extremely serious but appears to be isolated behaviour by Mr. Velasquez.
âThere is also a viable heat of passion defense.â
Velasquez must comply with a number of terms during his bail, such as GPS monitory, prohibition of owning any weapons, TBI/CTE outpatient treatment and counselling.
Plus there is a protective order that refrains him from being within 300 yards of victims: Aguirre ‘Harry’ Goularte, Patricia Goularte, and Paul Bender.
Mark Geragos, Velasquezâs lawyer, told ESPN: âIt’s been a long slog and I am very grateful.
âNothing is as touching as watching him having it sink in with his wife Michelle there.â
Velasquez, who also had a stint in WWE where he fought former UFC rival Brock Lesnar, had been behind bars since February.
In August he pleaded not guilty prior to this month’s pre-trial and had been denied bail four times previously by Judge Shelyna Brown.
Velasquez was arrested after chasing a car carrying Harry Goularte – the man accused of sexually abusing the MMA iconâs four-year-old son – through three Silicon Valley cities.
He is accused of ramming the vehicle with his pickup truck during the 11-mile high-speed chase, according to prosecutors.
They then claim that the powerhouse fired a .40-caliber pistol at the motor vehicle several times, which wounded Goularte’s stepfather, and driver Paul Bender.
Velasquez’s son gave a statement to police back in February in which he told them that Goularte had taken him to the bathroom of a Patty’s Childcare in San Martin centre before proceeding to molest him by touching his genitals, according to court documents.
According to court documents, the youngster claims Goularte asked him not to tell anyone about the incident while the child also informed cops that the alleged was also spotted going to the bathroom with other kids.
Goularte has already been charged with one felony count of a lewd and lascivious act for child molestation and, according to court documents, he was released from custody on February 25 without bail.
Velasquez is a former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion and appeared in WWE between 2019 and 2020.
He retired from mixed martial arts in 2019 and joined the Mexican Lucha Libre promotion AAA before signing for WWE.
He was released from the sports entertainment promotion in April 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
