(War Machine in his natural habitat. / Photo via Michael Quine, Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Despite War Machine‘s insistence that he was defending himself against an ambush and Christy Mack and Corey Thomas “got what they deserved,” the UFC/Bellator veteran is now hoping to make a plea deal to avoid being buried by the 30+ charges he faces stemming from the alleged savage beating of his girlfriend in August and previous incidents of domestic violence.
War Machine (aka Jon Koppenhaver) was set to appear at a preliminary hearing this Friday, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Koppenhaver’s lawyer Brandon Sua asked Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melanie Tobiasson for time to present prosecutors with “a plea deal to resolve the case…without further litigation and pretrial proceedings.” Tobiasson agreed, and gave Koppenhaver’s lawyers another month to investigate the charges against him. The prosecution is playing along, for now:
Chief Deputy District Attorney Jacqueline Bluth said [Christy] Mack and [Corey] Thomas were ready to testify at a preliminary hearing slated for Friday.
But, she added, “the state is always willing to take into consideration any information the defense would like to present”…
Bluth was also quick to say that defense lawyers should not delay the case in an attempt to “ice the victim” or wait for memory of the attack and wounds to subside.
“It is not going to work,” Bluth said. “The victim is always going to be cooperative with us. Both victims in this case want to get this process going”…
Koppenhaver faces life in prison without parole on 32 counts, including attempted murder, sexual assault, battery, coercion, preventing or dissuading a witness or victim from reporting a crime, and first-degree kidnapping resulting in substantial bodily harm.
It’s disappointing, in a way; I would have loved to see War Machine maintain his innocence in court while his lawyer tries to explain what a good guy he is without breaking into laughter. Instead, Koppenhaver will likely admit to some charges so that he can avoid a life of incarceration. We leave you with War Machine’s most recent twitter-poem, published last Friday:
In the blink of an eye,
I lost my life.
How did a nice surprise,
End in strife?
Why was I dealt this,
Horrible hand by fate?
Lured into the depths of hell,
With love as the bait.
This is a nightmare,
From which I can not wake.
There’s too much pain,
It’s more than I can take.
I have no recourse,
My hands are tied.
There is no justice in the world,
The gods have lied.
So for now,
I just sit and wait.
I’ll always regret the day I chose,
Love over hate.
