Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez’s attempted murder trial, which will take place in Santa Clara County, CA, has a date set, with September 9, 2024 the expected starting point.
The trial date was set on Wednesday by Judge Elizabeth Peterson, with Velasquez appearing in court in person alongside his attorney. Velasquez is currently free on bail after being accused of attempted murder following a high-speed chase that saw him fire shots into another vehicle.
MMA Fighting was among the outlets first reporting the news.
The fighter, who jumped to pro wrestling and the WWE following his UFC career, missed his intended target, Harry Goularte, who is himself facing charges stemming from accusations of sexual abuse involving a child believed to be Velasquez’s son. Instead, Velasquez shot and wounded another man present in the vehicle.
A third victim, a female also present in the vehicle, was unharmed.
Goularte was reportedly on his way to receive a court-ordered monitoring bracelet at the time of the incident. None of the allegations against Velasquez or Goularte have been proven in court.
Velasquez was initially jailed without bail following the February 2022 incident after a judge deemed him a risk to society, leading to a #FreeCain movement on social media among fans and even in-person protests. He spent eight months in custody prior to a $1 million dollar bail sum being accepted by the court.
In June of 2022, the ex-UFC heavyweight champ initiated a lawsuit against the man accused of molesting his son. That case has yet to work its way through the courts. Goularte was allegedly living at a home housing the daycare which Velasquez’s son attended, according to court records. The lawsuit also targets the owners of the daycare, run by Goularte’s mother.
In a court filing for the lawsuit, Velasquez claimed the daycare “fostered and maintained an environment” that allowed children to be abused.
At Wednesday’s hearing, counsel for Velasquez, Renee Hessling, requested the matter be adjourned due to the collection of subpoena evidence being incomplete. The court had previously granted a continuance for that reason, but declined to do so again this week.
Defense and prosecution attorneys had at one point been in talks regarding the possibility of a plea bargain for the fighter, though to this point, no such deal has emerged. A trial readiness hearing is now set for June 26.
