SAN DIEGO — from www.signonsandiego.com – A San Diego judge postponed a sentencing hearing for a former mixed-martial arts championship fighter, saying his behavior inside and outside the courtroom warranted prison not probation.
Jon Koppenhaver, who legally changed his name to War Machine, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury. The case stems from altercations at a Point Loma bar in February and a Pacific Beach bar in March. He also admitted he violated probation on a previous case.
War Machine, 28, was expected to be formally sentenced in accordance with a plea bargain last Thursday, but Superior Court Judge David Danielsen said he was “inclined not to honor the plea agreement,” given the statements War Machine had made to the Probation Department, his assertion in court Thursday that he had not read the terms of the plea, and a series of Twitter messages posted online before he was booked into jail last month.
“This really is a state prison case,” Danielsen said.
War Machine pleaded guilty July 1 and agreed to report to county jail to begin serving a yearlong stint as a condition of probation. The judge allowed the mixed-martial artist to report to jail July 16 so he could participate in a professional fight scheduled a week earlier.
Prosecutors agreed not to ask for additional jail or prison time at the sentencing if War Machine complied with the order.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Runyon filed a document last week containing several expletive-laden “tweets” posted on War Machine’s Twitter page in which he apparently rails against the court system, minimizes his role in the bar fights and laments having to serve a jail term.
One of the tweets reads, in part, that it “doesn’t pay to win in a street fight … it doesn’t even pay to defend yourself our county has gone soft. We need a civil war!”
Danielsen acknowledged a defense attorney’s contention that War Machine was asserting his free speech rights online, but the judge noted that speech — much like one’s actions — can come with consequences. As the judge continued, he seemed to focus less on the tweets than on War Machine’s statements to a probation officer, whose report won’t become public until after the sentencing.
“I think his words and his actions show a certain disrespect to anybody other than himself,” the judge said, adding that War Machine often chooses to “fight” his way out of tough situations rather than “think” his way out.
“A year in custody will be the least of his consequences,” the judge said, citing the current plea agreement.
“You won’t be able to fight your way out of a state prison sentence.”
War Machine is due back in court for sentencing Aug. 24.