Cain Velasquez granted bail by Santa Clara County judge after eight months in jail

Cain Velasquez is a free man – for now.

A Santa Clara County (Calif.) judge granted the former UFC heavyweight champion bail Tuesday after a pre-trial hearing that stretched nearly 13 hours over the course of two days.

“This incident is extremely serious but appears to be isolated behavior by Mr. Velasquez,” Judge Arthur Bocanegra said. “There is also a viable heat of passion defense.”

Terms include $1 million bail, monitoring and compliance to an extended set of terms.

Velasquez, 40, has been jailed for nearly eight months while he faces a handful of charges, including attempted murder, for allegedly shooting at a car carrying Harry Goularte, a man accused of molesting Velasquez’s 4-year-old son and striking Goularte’s stepfather in the arm with a bullet.

His defense attorney,  Mark Geragos, had previously requested bail three times but was shut down on each attempt. A writ petition submitted to a California appellate court also was denied.

District Attorney’s Office prosecutor Aaron French long argued Velasquez’s actions reckless and cited the time of day, the traffic frequency, and the proximity to a charter school. French also indicated he thought there was nothing preventing Velasquez from “finishing the job.”