Javier Mendez has been by Cain Velasquez's side through pretty much every life scenario, and that was no different during the former UFC heavyweight champion's recent legal battle with charges including attempted murder.
Velasquez was sentenced March 24 to five years in prison minus time served after he shot at Harry Goularte, a man accused of molesting Velasquez's son at a daycare. Velasquez struck the man's stepfather resulting in injury.
Mendez hoped Judge Arthur Bocanegra would simply hand Velasquez a time-served sentence, so he was disappointed with the verdict but ultimately praised the judge for his compassion. Mendez also added that he heard the day of the verdict was the second-to-last day for Bocanegra, who was retiring.
Mendez pointed to brain scans that Velasquez took when he was in prison, the results of which showed deficiencies in impulsivity, among other things. The brain issues were previously referenced by Velasquez's then-attorney, Mark Geragos, but not in-depth.
"I'm not happy with the judgement because he didn't deserve any more judgement," Mendez said on the "Javier & Mo Show." "Obviously, what he did was not right and it was reckless and endangered people's lives. I agree with that. But there was also a brain scan done of himself when he was in custody. They came and did a brain scan of him and they did a bunch of us, also. They found that Cain had zero impulsivity and ability to control his emotions on stress like that. Basically, his EEG they call it, they did a scan of his brain and they figured out he could not control it. I was blown away. ... Cain rated a zero in impulsivity. He couldn't stop himself. What he did, he couldn't stop himself. He just reacted. He could not stop it. He was incapable of it. Science proved it was a fact. So he could not do anything about his feelings, his rage. He just went."
When will Cain Velasquez be released?
While the judge credited Velasquez with 1283 days served, meaning 542 days remained. But as Mendez understands it, Velasquez will only serve somewhere between four and five months due to good behavior.
"Basically Cain has a year-and-a-half left," Mendez said. "But the way it works, usually, under good behavior, you either get an 85 percent due time or an 80 percent. So depending on where they put Cain, it'll be either an 80 percent or 85 percent. If he's at 80 percent, 80 percent of five years is what? It's four years. So basically, he'll do four to five months. Or if it's an 85, he'll probably do eight months with good behavior. I know he's going to be because when he's in there, do you know what he's going to be? He's going to be an asset to the prisoners that are in there. He's going to be an ...
