Former UFC Champion and WWE talent Cain Velasquez has been sentenced to five years in prison. However, Velasquez will only be serving just under two years behind bars, as he will receive 1,283 days of credit for time already served.
In addition, Velasquez has been given a sentence of four years of supervised probation.
On Monday Velasquez pled no-contest to several charges, including attempted murder. The charges are from a 2022 incident when Velasquez allegedly fired shots at Harry Goularte Jr. and two members of his family during a high-speed chase. It was said that Velasquez made an attempt to shoot at Goularte during the chase, but ended up hitting Goularte’s stepfather, Paul Bender, thus injuring him as a result. The chase was reportedly due to Goularte being arrested after it was believed he had allegedly sexually abused Velasquez’s child at a local daycare facility.
According to KRON 4 News in San Francisco, Judge Arthur Bocanegra became emotionally choked up as he announced the sentence to a packed courtroom in the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice. Punishment comes in many ways, and one of the worst is forcing a father to not be present in his child’s life, Bocanegra said.
The judge said that he took many factors into account when making his sentencing decision. While Velasquez is the offender for the attempted murder case, his family is also the victim in the child molestation case, Bocanegra emphasized.
The report also notes that the judge said Velasquez has no prior criminal record, and that he expressed sincere remorse, and took full responsibility for his crime without giving excuses. “This is a tragic case. Mr. Velasquez is not a danger to public safety,” Bocanegra told the courtroom.
It was also said that prosecutors asked for a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, as they argued that Velasquez took the law into his own hands when he chased Goularte’s pickup truck and drove 100 miles-per-hour from Morgan Hill to San Jose back on February 28, 2022. In the courtroom, Deputy District Attorney Aaron French showed photographs that displayed Goularte’s truck riddled with bullet holes. Velasquez’s defense attorney asked for probation with no prison time.
Bender read a victim impact statement to the courtroom. He told those in attendance that if Goularte had not applied pressure to his bullet wounds before paramedics arrived, he would have bled out and would not be standing before everyone today. He then asked the court to sentence Velasquez to the maximum sentence.
Velasquez’s teenage daughter also stood up in the courtroom and told the judge that she wants her father to be able to attend her high school soccer games. She told the court her father has always been her biggest supporter and has the biggest heart.
Velasquez’s wife said separating him from his children will take an “emotional toll.”
He made his WWE debut on the October 4, 2019 episode of SmackDown that premiered on FOX. Velasquez was released from his WWE contract on April 28, 2020 as a result of budget cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can watch the news report from KRON 4 News below: