Cain Velasquez denies attempted murder and other allegations
Judge Jessica Delgado presided over the plea hearing for former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who entered the plea on Friday.
The preliminary hearing for Velasquez has been set for September 26. There is still an appeal pending against his refusal of bail in the appellate court.
Harry Goularte, a man suspected of sexually assaulting Velasquez’s 4-year-old kid, was in the car at the time of Velasquez’s arrest on February 28. When Goularte was arrested for “lewd acts with a minor under the age of 14,” he was not shot.
A bullet allegedly fired by Velasquez struck Goularte’s stepfather Paul Bender in the shoulder.
Velasquez has also been scheduled for a hearing on August 29.
A closed-door hearing will be held for that purpose (in private rooms). There are still disagreements between Goularte’s legal team and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office about which papers are relevant to the case, including interviews with the juvenile about Goularte’s alleged sexual abuse.
Attorney Aaron French of the District Attorney’s Office argued on Friday that just a portion of the Goularte probe should be included in Velasquez’s discovery since it is an ongoing investigation and involves confidentiality and integrity of the minor.
Velasquez defence lawyers Alexandra Kazarian and Renee Hessling and French also objected to the prosecution’s decision to not bring Goularte as a witness. They were not alone in this concern, however.
This investigation into Cain Velasquez would not have been possible without Harry Goularte’s critical role in it, Hessling stated in an interview.
“To say that he should just be completely excised from this equation and pretend that he doesn’t exist and just completely dismiss his presence or the type of role he has in this, I think that’s a fiction. I don’t think it’s practical. I think it’s fundamentally unfair to Mr. Velasquez “
