Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen still has days in court ahead of him, but he now faces less harsh charges.
At an amendment hearing Wednesday in Las Vegas Township Justice Court, judge Joseph M. Bonaventure allowed prosecutors to amend their criminal complaint, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. With the amendment, Sonnen now faces six misdemeanor charges, which means the felony battery charge he previously faced has been dismissed.
Prior to Wednesday, Sonnen faced 11 charges, including 10 misdemeanor charges of battery and one felony charge of battery by strangulation stemming from an alleged incident at a Four Seasons hotel. Julie and Christopher Stellpflug, who filed a lawsuit, claimed Sonnen attacked them unprovoked which resulted in injuries. The lawsuit came months after five misdemeanor battery charges against Sonnen were “dismissed by the court without prejudice.”
Sonnen’s defense attorney Dayvid Figler said Wednesday he asked prosecutors to reexamine the case and indicated the reduced charges came because Sonnen either did not have the intent to commit them or that the alleged injuries to the Stellpflugs were not severe enough.
“I believe that’s exactly what happened, and they realized that the more appropriate way to move forward would be with this amended complaint,” Figler said, according to LVRJ.
According to attorney Kory Kaplan, who represents the Stellpflugs, his clients objected to the reduced charges because the injury Christopher Stellpflug suffered was a result of the accused action associated with the felony charge.
“After the charges were filed, they were contacted by a deputy district attorney who confirmed that felony charges were appropriate,” Kaplan said during the hearing, according to LVRJ.
Sonnen, 44, is due to appear in court on April 27, according to online records. Sonnen, a three-time UFC title challenger and multi-promotional analyst, has yet to publicly comment on the matter.
