Brooklyn attorney Dmitriy Shakhnevich lays out what’s likely to happen as McGregor’s new July 26th court date approaches.
Conor McGregor’s next UFC fight continues to stall out as the Irish superstar awaits another Brooklyn Criminal Court date on July 26th. McGregor’s legal woes stem from an incident leading up to UFC 223 when a gang led by the former lightweight champion smashed up a shuttle bus, injuring two fighters.
That whole mess resulted in two felony mischief charges, 4 counts of assault, 13 charges of menacing, one count of attempted assault, and one count of reckless endangerment. McGregor’s initial day in court was originally set as June 14th, but that lasted all of a minute before the July date was locked in.
So what will the defense and prosecutors do with that extra six weeks? According to Brooklyn attorney Dmitriy Shakhnevich, they’ll probably hammer out a plea deal that doesn’t result in McGregor doing jail time.
”I presume that he would need to either plead either to a misdemeanor or a violation which is a non-criminal disposition,” Shakhnevich told BloodyElbow.com. “And sometimes what they do is what’s called a conditional plea, which is a two-step. So if you plea to, for example, a misdemeanor, then you complete certain conditions and then the let you re-plea a non-criminal disposition. And that would probably be the best case scenario.”
”I presume that plea would include some form of community service and of course, taking some form of community service, monetary penalties just to reimburse for all the damage, restitution. And that would mean that if he fulfills all these conditions, maybe he doesn’t have to go back to court to show all that to the judge. Although he probably will because this is a serious case. He’s probably at this point looking forward to at most two more court appearances.”
More time in court isn’t exactly great, especially since the UFC seems intent on not announcing McGregor’s next fight until his legal case is resolved. It’s clear that all invested parties want Conor McGregor to face off against current 155 pound champion Khabib Nurmagomedov sometime in the fall. If rumors of the fight landing at UFC 229 on October 6th are true, the UFC will have two months from Conor’s July 26th date to put everything together and promote the biggest fight of 2018.
Not like they really have to worry about the fight underperforming. And for those worried about the up to 11 years in jail McGregor technically faces for all his charges, Shakhnevich has some good news.
”I’m virtually positive, particularly now, that he’s not going to be doing any jail time,” he said. “I was always virtually positive, now I’m really virtually positive.”