Cain Velasquez still doesn’t have trial dates as he faces attempted murder and other charges, but that could change relatively soon.
After months of delays and continuances, Velasquez appeared for two hearings in Santa Clara County (Calif.) court Wednesday.
Ultimately, Velasquez will be due back in court March 6 and April 17 for proceedings surrounding subpoena motions. Additionally, he will have “one final” trial setting hearing April 24, at which point trial dates will be formally scheduled.
The first hearing Wednesday revolved around two subpoena motions by Velasquez and defense attorney, Renee Hessling.
The first subpoena, which was previously signed off on by judge Shella Deen, was submitted to the UFC in recent weeks.
According to Hessling, the UFC agreed to voluntarily submit all requested documents, but had yet to do so. Hessling indicated the UFC had been cooperative and it was just a matter of following through.
Judge Deen mandated the UFC submit the documents by March 1, with a follow-up hearing March 6.
The second subpoena, was to Community Care Licensing (CCL), the agency responsible for licensing child care centers in California, presumably to obtain documents from Patty’s Daycare LLC, the daycare where Velasquez’s four-year-old son was allegedly molested.
Present, and objecting to this subpoena, was attorney Stephen Defillipis, who represents Harry Goularte, the man accused of the “lewd acts” with Velasquez’s son. Velasquez allegedly then pursued and shot at Goularte in a high-speed chase. Goularte’s mother Patricia (who ran the daycare), and stepfather Paul Bender were in the vehicle with Bender allegedly shot by Velasquez, which resulted in injury.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Defillipis motioned to quash the subpoena request, but didn’t do so with enough lead time for Judge Deen to review it. Given that, and some dispute over whether Patricia Goularte or Bender were formerly served the subpoena motion, Judge Deen continued the CCL subpoena matters to April 17.
Cain Velasquez appears for his arraignment at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice on Monday, Nov. 21, 2022, in San Jose, Calif. Velasquez, the former UFC champion based out of San Jose, was charged with shooting at a man accused of molesting his child. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group via AP, Pool) ORG XMIT: CAJOS102
Velasquez and Hessling then appeared, along with district attorney representative Aaron French, before Judge Benjamin Williams in a trial setting hearing.
Despite French’s repeated relaying of a sense of urgency and distress from Patricia Goularte and Paul Bender to move Velasquez’s court proceedings along out of fear for their safety, Judge Williams overrode his objections to another continuance.
Judge Williams encouraged both parties to consider advanced case management in an effort to potentially come to a resolution, which both the defense and district attorney seemed open to.
Velasquez will now have “one final” trial setting hearing April 24.
Velasquez, 40, already pleaded not guilty to multiple charges including attempted murder after he allegedly chased and shot at a vehicle containing three people (Harry Goularte, Patricia Goularte, and Paul Bender) in February 2022. Velasquez spent over eight months in jail before he was granted bail with stipulations in November 2022.
Goularte awaits a trial setting of his own Feb. 28, but his defense has filed a 995 motion, a request to drop the charge. A hearing for the 995 motion is set for March 11.
