SAN JOSE, Calif. — Former UFC champion Cain Velasquez will have to continue fighting in court after a judge allowed criminal charges — alleging that Velasquez tried to kill a South Bay man accused of molesting his child — to proceed to trial.
But he’ll be able to defend himself out of jail, where he has spent the past eight months, after Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Arthur Bocanegra granted Velasquez’s release on $1 million bail and an array of conditions including GPS monitoring.
The rulings Tuesday by Bocanegra concluded a two-day preliminary hearing. A trial would likely start sometime next year, with a possible life prison sentence on the line for Velasquez, the mixed-martial arts fighter who fought out of San Jose.
Velasquez, 40, was charged in March with one count of attempted murder, three counts each of assault with a firearm and assault with a deadly weapon, and three gun-crime charges. He pleaded not guilty to the felony charges and has been represented by a defense team led by Los Angeles-based attorney Mark Geragos.
Velasquez mounted multiple challenges to his initial bail denial by the local court, including an unsuccessful petition to the Sixth District Court of Appeal. Besides setting bail, Bocanegra ordered that Velasquez be placed under monitored and restricted release, and ordered him to stay at least 300 yards away from the reported victims.
The judge’s bail order came over the objections of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Bocanegra said he decided Velasquez was not a flight risk after considering his community ties, that he is married with two young children and has no criminal history. He also said Velasquez has a “viable heat of passion defense” in which the allegations of his 4-year-old son being sexually abused prompted “an isolated incident of aberrant behavior.”
“I have to believe, and I am confident you would not do anything to jeopardize or take you away from your son, your daughter, your family,” Bocanegra told Velasquez. “Don’t prove me wrong.”
Velasquez replied, “I won’t, your honor.”
That set off eruptions of tears in the courtroom gallery, which was filled with Velasquez’s family and supporters. After the hearing, Geragos said he wasn’t surprised by the ruling to bring the charges to trial, but focused more on the pending bail release.
“I am just gratified right now that he is home, going to be with Little Cain, and the healing can begin,” Geragos said.
Assistant District Attorney Angela Bernhard said after the hearing that the judge’s decision to grant bail “concerns us, because of the great concerns we have about the safety of the public, given the defendant’s actions in this case.”
Velasquez is accused of shooting at 44-year-old Harry Goularte Jr. as he traveled with his mother Patricia Goularte and his stepfather Paul Bender, who were reportedly driving him from Morgan Hill to San Jose on Feb. 28 to get fitted for an ankle monitor at a county office.
Three days earlier, Goularte Jr. was arraigned on a felony charge of a lewd and lascivious act with a child, based on claims 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.
Geragos sought to get the judge to dismiss the attempted murder count. He argued that his client’s alleged acts, including ramming the victims’ vehicle before shooting at them and his eventual surrender, did not indicate planning and showed “this was impulsive.”
He also criticized video recorded in the Morgan Hill neighborhood where Goularte Jr.’s parents picked him up, which the prosecution said showed Velasquez following and “stalking” them. Geragos said there was no way Velasquez could have known the parents were going to see their son.
Deputy District Attorney Aaron French emphasized that the chase and shooting did not occur until three days after Goularte Jr. appeared in court. He argued that Velasquez’s cooperation with police officers afterward simply meant his target of violence was Goularte Jr.
“That does not change what he set out to do that day,” French said in court. “This was not heat of passion. This was revenge.”
French also asserted that Velasquez was “going to kill Harry Goularte in that vehicle,” and that his parents were “collateral damage” to him.
French called to the stand five witnesses, all of whom were police officers from the Morgan Hill and San Jose police departments who responded to the Feb. 28 shooting report that ended with Velasquez’s arrest. Authorities have alleged that Velasquez shot at Goularte Jr. and his family first at a busy intersection in Morgan Hill before shooting at them again at Bailey Avenue and Monterey Highway in South San Jose, wounding Bender.
Morgan Hill Sgt. Sergio Pires testified Monday that on the day of the shooting, he saw the two pickup trucks — driven by Bender and Velasquez — speeding against oncoming traffic. Pires said once Velasquez passed his patrol vehicle, Velasquez pulled over and surrendered. Officer Nathaniel Rodriguez testified that he detained Velasquez, who he said was cooperative and promptly disclosed that he had a handgun in his truck.
Cpl. Todd Davis described talking to a witness who reported seeing the pickup trucks zooming through mid-day traffic at Butterfield Boulevard and Cochrane Road in Morgan Hill, and that Velasquez pulled up alongside Bender’s truck, and fired one round, which missed.
San Jose Police Officer Scott McNulty testified about his hospital interview with Bender, in which the wounded man reportedly described being chased at high speeds. Bender told McNulty that after he was shot at Bailey Avenue, he heard more shots as the pursuit headed back toward Morgan Hill.
Velasquez was expected to be released sometime between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to standard release procedures by the sheriff’s office. He is scheduled to return to court for an arraignment on the trial charges Nov. 21.
