Cain Velasquez shooting sentencing pushed back over Racial Justice Act motion

SAN JOSE — Sentencing has been delayed for Cain Velasquez, the former mixed-martial arts star who has admitted to engaging in a violent car chase and shooting at a man accused of molesting his child, after his attorney balked at a proposed prison term and subsequently alleged racial bias in the sentencing process.

Velasquez, 42, was scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 24 after his no-contest plea in August to attempted murder and nine gun assault crimes in the 2022 attack on Harry Goularte Jr., his mother Patty Bender and her husband Paul Bender, who was the sole person wounded by the gunfire. A new sentencing date has been set by Judge Arthur Bocanegra for March 24.

Renee Hessling, Velasquez’s attorney, said at a court hearing Thursday that she objected to a sentencing recommendation of 30 years to life in prison proposed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. She later said in an interview that was a stark contrast from the seven-year, eight-month prison term recommended by the county Probation Department in a presentencing report.

Neither of the sentencing proposals is readily accessible to the public. Hessling also took issue with victim impact letters submitted to Bocanegra that she said referenced supporters of Velasquez as “thugs” and as gang-affiliated. Those supporters were apparently mentioned in the context of harassment and attacks against the Benders in the wake of the shooting and abuse allegations against Goularte.

“I believe as his attorney I have a duty to pursue a motion under the Racial Justice Act in light of the disproportionate heavy-handed sentence, 30 years to life, that they are seeking for Mr. Velasquez,” Hessling told this news organization. “As long as they seek a lengthy disproportionate sentence, I will continue to argue this sentence violates that act.”

The district attorney’s office declined to comment on Hessling’s motion and the sentencing delay.

The Racial Justice Act went into effect in 2021 and makes it illegal to obtain a conviction “on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin.” The law allows legal challenges to charges, convictions and sentences influenced by systemic bias.

Court relief under the law has been rare in Santa Clara County. But late last year, the Sixth District Court of Appeal cited a violation of the act in overturning a rape conviction and sentence for former San Francisco 49ers star Dana Stubblefield, after finding that a prosecutor improperly mentioned Stubblefield’s status as a famous Black man when telling jurors why police did not search his home for a gun purportedly used in the crimes alleged against him.

Between now and late March, Bocanegra will field evidence requests, motions and arguments on whether anything in the prosecution and sentencing of Velasquez was tainted by racial bias. That could include an examination of the demographics of people convicted of crimes in the county, particularly the severity of their charges sentences in relation to other races accused of similar acts.

Bocanegra said in court that March 24 is a date of finality for Velasquez’s case, in that he plans to rule on the Racial Justice Act claim and proceed with sentencing.

On the afternoon of Feb. 28, 2022, Goularte was with his stepfather Paul Bender and also accompanied by his mother, Patty Bender, when they all drove from Morgan Hill to San Jose so Goularte could get fitted for an ankle monitor in accordance with his pretrial supervision by the county.

Goularte has been ordered to stand trial on one felony charge of a lewd and lascivious act with a child.

Shortly after Goularte got into his parents’ pickup truck in Morgan Hill, authorities say Velasquez fired his first shot at Goularte, touching off an 11-mile high-speed car chase through Morgan Hill that ended near Monterey Road and Bailey Avenue on the southern edge of San Jose.

Authorities alleged that with commute traffic coming off nearby Highway 101 and a nearby school letting out, Velasquez used his pickup to ram Bender’s truck before he fired several shots at the three with a .40-caliber pistol, wounding Bender in the arm and torso, then fled.

A short time later, police say Velasquez pulled over and surrendered to a Morgan Hill police officer. Investigators later contended that Velasquez had begun following Goularte’s parents as they left their San Martin residence, which houses the daycare business where the sexual abuse allegations were reported to have occurred.

Goularte is under supervised release and remains in pretrial proceedings, and he and his family have staunchly denied the accusations against him. Velasquez also remains out of jail custody, which has been his status since Bocanegra granted him $1 million bail and monitored release after a November 2022 preliminary examination that advanced his case toward trial.