LAS VEGAS — Jury selection begins Monday morning in the state of Nevada’s criminal case against War Machine.
War Machine faces 34 felony counts, including sexual assault, attempted murder and battery in the August 2014 attack on former adult star and girlfriend Christy Mack and her friend, Corey Thomas.
Mack sustained a broken nose, a blowout fracture to her eye, broken ribs, two broken teeth, a lacerated liver and bruises. Thomas was allegedly punched and choked.
War Machine, whose birth name is Jonathan Koppenhaver, is a former mixed martial artist who also dabbled in the porn biz, including shoots with Mack.
Last month, War Machine rejected a plea deal with prosecutors. The state offered War Machine two separate plea deals that would have sent him to prison for 16 years to life or 18 to 40 years.
When trial gets underway on Monday at least two media outlets have been granted access to bring cameras into Clark County District Judge Elissa Cadish’s courtroom.
The trial will focus on the day of the attack, as well as Mack’s relationship with War Machine.
Last month in an evidentiary hearing Cadish ruled that jurors can hear testimony about a discussion that War Machine and Mack had about a rape fantasy prior to the attack.
While incarcerated at the Clark County Detention Center, War Machine has remained active on Twitter, mainly reciting passages from numerous famous figures — from theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Mother Teresa — and adding his own commentary on how his life has rolled.
