{"id":143,"date":"2022-09-22T18:14:55","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T17:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=143"},"modified":"2022-09-22T18:18:24","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T17:18:24","slug":"major-update-on-chael-sonnens-battery-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/major-update-on-chael-sonnens-battery-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Update On Chael Sonnen\u2019s Battery Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Western media have reported that this week, former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen has been battling multiple misdemeanor batteries caused by an alleged attack in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Last December, police were called to attend the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Vegas after reports of an intoxicated individual attacking a vacationing couple, Christopher and Julie Stelpflug, unprovoked whilst they were returning to their room.<\/p>\n<p>In some harrowing detail,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmanews.com\/2022\/03\/details-chael-sonnen-battery\/\" data-mil=\"118261\">\u201cThe American Gangster\u201d is said to have thrown elbows at Christopher during scrambles on the ground<\/a>\u00a0and even held him in a chokehold. He\u2019s also accused of pinning Julie against a wall and punching her in the face repeatedly.<\/p>\n<p>Sonnen, who competed for championships at both middleweight and light heavyweight inside the Octagon, was later accused of attacking a number of other guests, as well as multiple security guards.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_76248\"  width=\"696\" height=\"391\"  data-origwidth=\"696\" data-origheight=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gkugyMFK-Ss?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After avoiding an arrest, five misdemeanor citations were later filed against Sonnen. While a judge initially dismissed them all, the Clark County District Attorney\u2019s Office later charged the former MMA star with 10 misdemeanor counts of battery and one felony count of battery by strangulation, insisting that it \u201cplayed absolutely no role in the unilateral decision by the sitting judge to dismiss the citations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But this past March, prosecutors dropped the felony charge and filed an amended criminal complaint that reduced Sonnen\u2019s misdemeanor charges to six.<\/p>\n<p>Months later, the couple accusing Sonnen of the unprovoked attack\u00a0appeared on California TV station KSBY\u00a0to discuss the incident and\u00a0what they perceived to be a number of failings in how the DA\u2019s office and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department handled the incident.<\/p>\n<p>But following that tell-all sit-down interview, and seemingly owing to it, Sonnen has had his charge count reduced yet again.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-sonnen-has-2-of-6-misdemeanor-counts-dropped\">Sonnen Has 2 Of 6 Misdemeanor Counts Dropped<\/h2>\n<p>Following the couple\u2019s TV appearance, defense attorney Dayvid Figler filed a motion to dismiss all charges against Sonnen after prosecutors failed to obtain statements that the Stellpflugs gave to the California TV station.<\/p>\n<p>Figler protested that Christopher and Julie Stellpflug made comments to a media entity that could be used as exculpatory evidence \u2014 meaning \u201cany evidence that is favorable to the defendant on issues of guilt or punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Per\u00a0a Las Vegas Review-Journal report, Figler\u2019s motion reads that Christopher Stellpflug \u201chas given some statements which have been broadcast concerning Mr. Sonnen\u2019s mental state\u2026 and also claimed injuries and motivations unsupported by other evidence\u2026 It is clear that if Mr. Sonnen could not form the requisite intent to commit a willful and unlawful battery that he would be exonerated of all charges.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In court documents, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jake Merback made note of the fact that prosecutors were unable to obtain statements made to the TV station, but argued against Figler\u2019s claim, writing that \u201cthere is no reason to believe that the statements made to the media would be inconsistent with the Stellpflug\u2019s prior statements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He did, however, state that should the judge see things differently, only the two charges related to the alleged injuries that the Stellpflugs suffered should be dropped. And at a court hearing on Wednesday,\u00a0Las Vegas Justice Pro Tem Craig Friedberg dismissed two of the six counts.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Julie Stellpflug explained her and her husband\u2019s \u2018disgust\u2019 at the decision during a phone interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, insisting that nothing that was said to the TV station differed from the statements given to the police.<\/p>\n<div id=\"mmane-af3c8978f69a0a0099dc8b80f604f48f\" class=\"mmane-af3c8978f69a0a0099dc8b80f604f48f mmane-content-5\">\n<figure style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mmanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/BeFunky-collage-770-1024x576-2.jpg.optimal.jpg\" alt=\"Chael Sonnen, the Stellpflugs\" width=\"900\" height=\"487\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image Credits: USA TODAY Sports &amp; KSBY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe just want justice,\u201d Stellpflug said. \u201cWe did not deserve what happened to us\u2026 Everything has remained consistent. There\u2019s nothing different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the decision, Sonnen is now left facing four remaining misdemeanor battery counts. The former UFC and WEC standout was also sued by the couple in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Western media have reported that this week, former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen has been battling multiple misdemeanor batteries caused by an alleged attack in 2021. Last December, police were called to attend the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Vegas after reports of an intoxicated individual attacking a vacationing couple, Christopher and Julie Stelpflug, unprovoked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-video","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ufc-news","8":"category-uncategorized","9":"post_format-post-format-video"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions\/146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}