LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Latest on the attempted murder trial of the former mixed martial arts fighter named War Machine on charges that he tried to kill his porn actress ex-girlfriend and her friend in August 2014 (all times local):
5:30 p.m.
Images of two bloodied faces greeted a jury that began hearing evidence Monday in Las Vegas in the attempted murder trial of the former mixed martial arts fighter named War Machine on charges that he tried to kill his porn actress ex-girlfriend and her male friend in August 2014.
Prosecutors cast Jonathan Paul Koppenhaver as violent in his relationship with Christy Mack and murderous when he arrived at her home early one morning to find her and Corey Thomas asleep in her bedroom.
Koppenhaver’s defense attorney cast Mack and Koppenhaver as damaged people with image insecurities in a co-dependent relationship that revolved around sex and exploded into violence.
Defense attorney Jay Leiderman said Thomas was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Koppenhaver has pleaded not guilty to all 34 felony charges against him, including sexual assault and kidnapping, that could get him life in prison without parole if he’s found guilty.
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1:45 p.m.
Opening statements have begun in Las Vegas for the attempted murder trial of the former mixed martial arts fighter named War Machine on charges that he tried to kill his porn actress ex-girlfriend and her friend in August 2014.
Jonathan Paul Koppenhaver faces 34 felony charges also including battery, sexual assault and coercion in the alleged attack on ex-girlfriend Christy Mack and Corey Thomas.
The Associated Press usually doesn’t identify alleged victims of sexual assault, but Mack gave AP permission to use her name. Her legal name is Christine Mackinday.
She testified in 2014 that Koppenhaver let himself into her home with a key and attacked her and Thomas while they slept.
She described injuries including a broken nose, missing teeth, fractured eye socket, leg injuries and a lacerated liver.
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