(Brett “Crisco” Rogers. Ain’t nothin’ sticks to him.)
Well, as expected, Brett Rogers isn’t going to have to answer for the crimes he committed against his wife back in July.
The former Strikeforce heavyweight today reached a plea deal in his domestic assault case stemming from an incident that occurred in the summer in which neighbors and Rogers’ nine and 10-year-old daughters witnessed the hulking former Sam’s Club employee ground and pounding his wife in the backyard of their Apple Valley home. During the attack, his wife, Tiuana was momentarily rendered unconscious, had one of her teeth knocked out and was left bloodied and battered and with cauliflower ear as she fled the scene. Following the incident, Rogers was charged with felony third-degree assault, felony domestic assault by strangulation, and felony stalking as well as one gross misdemeanor count of endangerment of a child.
According to the Apple Valley Patch, as a result of the plea deal his attourney was able to strike with prosecutors, Rogers pled guilty today to a simple charge of third-degree assault — which is not a felony — and the rest of the charges were dropped. Although it is possible that he could be sentenced to jail, his lawyer, Murad Mohammed doesn’t think his client will do time behind bars because of his clean criminal record and because Rogers “is owning up to what he did,” which is pretty much the opposite of what he did on Inside MMA two weeks ago when he told host Ron Kruck that the media was making a mountain out of a molehill.
“The situation that occurred, it happened and it was more of a misunderstanding when I look at it. The papers can write whatever but we still going through the legal process,” Rogers told Kruck with a straight face. “I’m confident that things are going to dropped, squared away and then we can move forward like we said. We’re a married couple, we have our ups and down just like everyone else.”
“Overall, Brett and I are pleased with the outcome,” said Mohammed. “I think it’s important for everyone, especially Brett’s wife and family, to know that Brett has taken ownership for everything that’s happened. It’s an unfortunate situation for the family and the end result is Brett not having a felony conviction resulting in him returning to his family and continuing to fight.”
A pre-sentence investigation will be take place prior to a scheduled November 30 sentencing hearing. In the meantime, Rogers remains free on his own recognizance and the $100,000 bond he posted back in July. His first fight since the incident and his subsequent firing by Strikeforce is scheduled for September 23 when he takes on UFC veteran Eddie Sanchez in the main event of Titan Fighting Championship 20 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.