I don’t know why fighters think rape is funny. I’m painting with broad strokes, of course. Not all fighters think rape is a funny topic. But we’ve certainly seen our share of rape-related humor in recent months, with Forrest Griffin a…
I don’t know why fighters think rape is funny. I’m painting with broad strokes, of course. Not all fighters think rape is a funny topic. But we’ve certainly seen our share of rape-related humor in recent months, with Forrest Griffin and Miguel Torres taking up the majority of the limelight for their Twitter-related offenses. And […]
Former Team Tompkins fighter Kasheem “The Dream” Peterson was acquitted by a London, Ontario jury Tuesday of all charges against him stemming from an April sexual assault arrest in the city where he was staying for the month to help his then-coach Shawn Tompkins prepare Mark Hominick for his UFC 129 bout with Jose Aldo.
As the verdict was read out, Peterson, who had sat stone-faced throughout the trial nodded to the jury.
Former Team Tompkins fighter Kasheem “The Dream” Peterson was acquitted by a London, Ontario jury Tuesday of all charges against him stemming from an April sexual assault arrest in the city where he was staying for the month to help his then-coach Shawn Tompkins prepare Mark Hominick for his UFC 129 bout with Jose Aldo.
As the verdict was read out, Peterson, who had sat stone-faced throughout the trial nodded to the jury.
According to court records, it is alleged that Peterson and his accuser met at a local club and that both remained in the bar after closing where they snorted cocaine in the women’s bathroom. The alleged victim maintained that she felt uneasy around the fighter, but gave him a ride home anyway when he asked her to. Peterson contended she had made advances at him all night and that she drove him home with the intention of having sex, but wouldn’t go inside the house because she didn’t want any of the other fighters to see her there, so they drove to a parking lot where they could have more privacy. The victim stated that Peterson accused her of erratic driving because of the drugs and alcohol in her system and he grabbed the wheel and steered her vehicle into an abandoned lot. It was there that she claims he forced himself on her and wrestled with her in her SUV and choked her with a seatbelt while he sexually assaulted her. She testified that she got so fed up with his persistence that she threw her hands up in the air and told him to do whatever he wanted to her and to let her know when he was done.
Peterson was charged with sexual assault, choking and forcible confinement and has been in jail for the past eight months awaiting trial. When news of the charges broke, Tompkins condemned Peterson’s actions and dropped him from the team.
Part of the defense’s case hinged on the agreed upon fact that Peterson had sexual dysfunction issues that night and could not actually have intercourse as a result. His lawyer said that for a macho fighter like “The Dream” to admit such an embarrassing fact, he must be telling the truth about the rest of the story. The victim waited until mid-afternoon to go to police and hospital where she was treated for a cut on her finger and bruising on her arms and neck. Doctors did not find any trauma that would indicate that she was sexually assaulted.
The 29-year-old 4-1-1 welterweight who lives in Las Vegas and trains out of TapouT Training Center, will have another hearing with immigration in Windsor before being allowed to return back to the U.S. His court case cast a new light on a past criminal record that is rumored to be related to drug trafficking, and as a result the Canadian government may revoke his traveling rights to The Great White North.
“He’d been allowed into Canada on at least two or three previous occasions with no problem,” Peterson’s lawyer Brian Chambers told the London Free Press yesterday.”When these charges arose, Immigration took a different stance.”
Chambers expects that the immigration issue will be cleared up in two to three weeks, meaning in spite of the fact that he is technically a free man, Peterson will spend the holidays behind bars.
(Torres following his unanimous decision loss to social media. / Photo via ESPN)
Miguel Torres — former undisputed WEC bantamweight champion and die-hard fan ofrape jokes — has been released by the UFC. Dana White confirmed the firing yesterday evening, telling SI.com, “his career with us now is over.”
The reason for Torres’s release was a tweet that reportedly read, “If a rape van was called a surprise van, more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone likes surprises.” Torres later removed the tweet and replaced it with an edited version. White was informed of the tweet second-hand by Michael Landsberg and made the decision to fire Torres shortly after.
So why is Torres being made an example of, when Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans made similar off-color statements recently? Basically, it’s because he didn’t have a good enough explanation.
(Torres following his unanimous decision loss to social media. / Photo via ESPN)
Miguel Torres — former undisputed WEC bantamweight champion and die-hard fan ofrape jokes — has been released by the UFC. Dana White confirmed the firing yesterday evening, telling SI.com, “his career with us now is over.”
The reason for Torres’s release was a tweet that reportedly read, “If a rape van was called a surprise van, more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them. Everyone likes surprises.” Torres later removed the tweet and replaced it with an edited version. White was informed of the tweet second-hand by Michael Landsberg and made the decision to fire Torres shortly after.
So why is Torres being made an example of, when Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans made similar off-color statements recently? Basically, it’s because he didn’t have a good enough explanation.
As Dana White tells Ariel Helwani in a video interview released last night, Griffin explained to him that his “rape is the new missionary” tweet was intended to be a commentary on the prevalence of sex crime coverage on television, while Rashad’s Jerry Sandusky reference was an attempted dig at Phil Davis’s alma mater gone too far. (Dana claims he couldn’t hear the line during the press conference because the microphones were going in and out, though he laughed anyways.)
The problem with Torres’s “rape van” tweet was that it had no other purpose, context, or explanation, other than allegedly being a quote from either It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Workaholics. Said Dana: “That’s not a funny joke to me. That’s just not something you tweet. If that’s your sense of humor, keep it at home around you and your buddies and keep it to yourself. It’s not something that you put out on twitter. And there’s no explanation for it. I can’t make any sense of it. And enough is enough. When you’re getting ready to twitter, or you’re getting ready to say something, think about what you’re gonna say, think about what you’re gonna tweet, and use a little common sense…that tweet makes no sense, and the fact that you say it was a joke bothers me even more.”
White goes on to explain that this is the first thing that Miguel Torres has done to offend him — he considers Torres a good guy and a great champion otherwise — and he would have been fired even if this situation didn’t occur on the heels of the Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans controversies. (For the record, Rashad won’t receive any punishment for his own tasteless joke.)
Torres isn’t the first fighter to be fired by the UFC due to an Internet posting. I mean shit, we were just talking about War Machine. But now that every other UFC fighter is trying to be a part-time comedian in order to nab a Twitter performance bonus, a new message needed to be sent: Use your head, because the world is watching.
(It looks like we may be able to add “murderer” to Joe Son’s resume below “kidnapper” and above “rapist.”)
A poster on mixedmartialarts.com’s Underground Forum revealed today that former UFC fighter and incarcerated kidnapper and rapist Joseph Hyungmin Son may have been involved in the murder of his cellmate in the California prison he currently is housed in and it appears that the story has some truth to it.
Here’s what the poster, SoCal PriznGard posted today:
“I am the first to break this news! Ex UFC fighter, Joe Son has murdered his cellmate. While serving a life sentence for gang rape, Joe Son has been attacked several times by other inmates who do not tolerate rapists in prison. It has not yet been determined why he killed his cellmate or how.
No troll. Fact: celly found dead. Joe and dead guy only ones in cell together. Guard doing count, sees celly is unresponsive, medical arrives. CPR performed. Celly has trauma to chest area. Pronounced dead. Innocent until proven guilty but looks like he did it. These are the only facts that I have right now. Investigation still in progress since it just happened on Monday around 5:00 pm.”
CagePotato.com spoke with a representative from the prison’s litigation department, after being passed on by Wasco’s public information officer this morning, and when asked whether or not Son was involved in said incident, we were told that a press release on the situation is forthcoming, likely later today — meaning that there is at least some truth to the rumor.
By Mike Russell
(It looks like we may be able to add “murderer” to Joe Son’s resume below “kidnapper” and above “rapist.”)
A poster on mixedmartialarts.com’s Underground Forum revealed today that former UFC fighter and incarcerated kidnapper and rapist Joseph Hyungmin Son may have been involved in the murder of his cellmate in the California prison he currently is housed in and it appears that the story has some truth to it.
Here’s what the poster, SoCal PriznGard posted today:
“I am the first to break this news! Ex UFC fighter, Joe Son has murdered his cellmate. While serving a life sentence for gang rape, Joe Son has been attacked several times by other inmates who do not tolerate rapists in prison. It has not yet been determined why he killed his cellmate or how.
No troll. Fact: celly found dead. Joe and dead guy only ones in cell together. Guard doing count, sees celly is unresponsive, medical arrives. CPR performed. Celly has trauma to chest area. Pronounced dead. Innocent until proven guilty but looks like he did it. These are the only facts that I have right now. Investigation still in progress since it just happened on Monday around 5:00 pm.”
CagePotato.com spoke with a representative from the prison’s litigation department, after being passed on by Wasco’s public information officer this morning, and when asked whether or not Son was involved in said incident, we were told that a press release on the situation is forthcoming, likely later today — meaning that there is at least some truth to the rumor.
Here’s what we were told a few minutes ago:
“Right now I am working on a press release and I can’t get that information out until our headquarters puts a rubber stamp on it, so that’s where I’m at right now with it. That’s pretty much all I can tell you right now. They control when it’s released, but it may be released this afternoon, possibly.”
If there was no incident and Son was not involved, we would have been informed as much.
We’ll have more on the incident after we receive the press release this afternoon.
*UPDATE* THE FOLLOWING IS A PRESS RELEASE SENT OUT BY THE WASCO LITIGATION DEPARTMENT:
WASCO – Officials from Wasco State Prison-Reception Center (WSP-RC) and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the death of an inmate as a homicide. The inmate, whose name is being withheld pending notification of his next of kin, was found dead in his cell about 5:50 p.m. October 10, 2011.
The 50-year-old inmate was received at WSP-RC from San Luis Obispo County on June 23, 2011, as a parole violator with a new term for failure to register as a sex offender. He received a 2-year sentence.
Joseph Son, 40, has been identified as a suspect in the case. Son was received at WSP-RC from Orange County on September 16, 2011, on a life sentence with the possibility of parole for torture.
The Office of the Inspector General’s Bureau of Independent Review was notified.
WSP-RC’s primary mission is to provide short-term housing while new inmates are processed to classify and evaluate new inmates, physically and mentally, and to determine their security level, program requirements and appropriate institutional placement. WSP-RC, which was opened in February 1991, houses approximately 5,800 inmates and employs approximately 1,700 people.
(Whitehead posing with his attorney outside the courtroom after today’s hearing.)
Mike Whitehead made an Alford plea of “no-contest” to felony charges of attempted sexual assault in Nevada State court today and could face between two and 20 years in State prison at his January 19 sentencing. The minimum jail term for the “category b” offence is 2 years, which could mean Whitehead may get out after a year and change on good behavior. This may not seem like a positive for a man facing jail time, but considering he was originally arrested on charges of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, open and gross lewdness and also faced possible drug charges involving 40 marijuana plants found growing in his home, “Iron Mike” is likely counting his blessings that State prosecutors accepted his lawyer’s plea deal for the lesser charge.
(Whitehead posing with his attorney outside the courtroom after today’s hearing.)
Mike Whitehead made an Alford plea of “no-contest” to felony charges of attempted sexual assault in Nevada State court today and could face between two and 20 years in State prison at his January 19 sentencing. The minimum jail term for the “category b” offence is 2 years, which could mean Whitehead may get out after a year and change on good behavior. This may not seem like a positive for a man facing jail time, but considering he was originally arrested on charges of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, open and gross lewdness and also faced possible drug charges involving 40 marijuana plants found growing in his home, “Iron Mike” is likely counting his blessings that State prosecutors accepted his lawyer’s plea deal for the lesser charge.
For those not familiar with what an Alford plea is, there was another high profile case recently that cast a light on the procedure.
The West Memphis Three entered a similar plea, which basically is like saying, “I am not admitting guilt, however given the facts or testimony against me, I don’t believe I can win this case,” before entering a plea of “no contest” to the charges last month to charges that they murdered a trio of boys back in 1993 when the accused were teenagers and were released minutes later after having served 17 years in prison for crimes they have maintained they did not commit. The case was based solely on circumstantial evidence and testimony.The term was coined for a 1970 plea by Henry Alford who was on trial for murder at the time and was facing the death penalty. The rationale behind the plea is to save the court the time and hassle of a lengthy court case and to hopefully receive a lesser punishment as a result, while allowing the accused to maintain his or her innocence.
Under Whitehead’s negotiated agreement, the state will make no recommendation at the time of sentencing, providing he is not found through psycho-sexual testing to be a high-risk offender, in which case he will be eligible for probation. Whitehead’s weapons that were confiscated by Metro Police will also be forfeited.
(That asshole better get used to wearing outfits like this in jail.)
By the time Joe Son fought at UFC 4 and subsequently had his balls minced by Keith Hackney, he figured he had gotten away with a vicious armed kidnapping and rape he committed with a buddy four years prior. Three years later he was cast as Random Task in the Mike Myers hit Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and probably thought his crime would never be solved. Eleven years later, the cold case thawed when the Korean-born sub-par fighter, actor and human being was arrested for an unrelated parole violation and a DNA submission was linked to the Christmas eve 1990 assault on a then-19-year-old woman whose life would never be the same after Son and his co-accused plucked her from the street in Orange County and drove around for a few hours taking time raping and sodomizing her while terrorizing and penetrating her with a handgun.
The pair made their victim believe that she was going to die, no matter if she cooperated with their demands or not before releasing her with the caveat that her life was “her Christmas present from them.” How thoughtful.
Well, that fat bastard won’t get to breathe the air of a free man for at least 16 years, but it’s more likely that he’ll spend more behind bars, especially if prosecutors and his victim have any say in the matter, and they will. He was sentenced to life in prison this afternoon with the possibility of parole.
(That asshole better get used to wearing outfits like this in jail.)
By the time Joe Son fought at UFC 4 and subsequently had his balls minced by Keith Hackney, he figured he had gotten away with a vicious armed kidnapping and rape he committed with a buddy four years prior. Three years later he was cast as Random Task in the Mike Myers hit Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and probably thought his crime would never be solved. Eleven years later, the cold case thawed when the Korean-born sub-par fighter, actor and human being was arrested for an unrelated parole violation and a DNA submission was linked to the Christmas eve 1990 assault on a then-19-year-old woman whose life would never be the same after Son and his co-accused plucked her from the street in Orange County and drove around for a few hours taking time raping and sodomizing her while terrorizing and penetrating her with a handgun.
The pair made their victim believe that she was going to die, no matter if she cooperated with their demands or not before releasing her with the caveat that her life was “her Christmas present from them.” How thoughtful.
Well, that fat bastard won’t get to breathe the air of a free man for at least 16 years, but it’s more likely that he’ll spend more behind bars, especially if prosecutors and his victim have any say in the matter, and they will. According to the LA Times, he was sentenced to life in prison this afternoon with the possibility of parole.
His victim, who is now 40 and told the court Friday that she suffers from daily bouts of post traumatic stress disorder, flew in for the month-long court proceedings to ensure that she got the opportunity to explain the effect Son’s actions have had on her life. She will have the opportunity to speak at each of Son’s parole hearings and she likely will.
“I feel debilitating fear come over me and am convinced a hand is coming from behind again,” the victim said in court. “My emotional scars are intense. My 20s were stripped from my life as I relearned how to walk, see, hear and cope with the outside world again. Joseph Son not only cost me my job at my salon [that I had at the time of the attack] but also my college savings … not to mention the impact it’s made on celebrating Christmas year after year.”
Son’s original charges of rape, torture and kidnapping were dropped after a statute of limitations expired prior to trial, but the Orange County District Attorney’s office levied charges of conspiracy to commit murder and torture in their place. The defense was able to convince jurors that because both assailants attmpted to conceal their identities by covering their faces and using aliases during the attack, that they didn’t plan to murder their victim. The torture charge, however, stuck.
Hopefully an old school UFC fan in Son’s block who knows the story recognizes him and lets the rest of the inmates know who this sick motherfucker is so they can Hackney him in the nuts every day.
