Mayweather takes plea deal in two cases
Champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. has struck a deal that will end his two pending criminal cases, cleaning the slate of charges stemming from a domestic violence incident and a battery on a security guard over parking citations.
Clark County District Attorney David Roger confirmed Mayweather, an undefeated prize fighter and former Olympic boxer, will enter guilty pleas today in Las Vegas Justice Court to one count of battery domestic violence and two counts of harassment, all misdemeanors.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors will retain the right to argue for sentencing conditions, Roger said. Mayweather, 34, faces $3,000 in fines and at least two days or up to 18 months in jail.
Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa is expected to sentence Mayweather today .
Mayweather’s defense attorney, Richard Wright, did not return several calls requesting comment.
The plea deal negates a preliminary hearing Mayweather faced today on felony charges, including coercion, grand larceny and robbery, in connection with a Sept. 9, 2010, incident with his three children and their mother, Josie Harris. He is free on $31,000 bail in that case. If convicted of those felonies, the boxer faced up to 34 years in prison.
Mayweather was accused of assaulting Harris after she told him she was dating another man, a Las Vegas police report detailed.
The couple’s 10-year-old son, Koraun Mayweather, saw the boxer assault his mother, the report showed. He told police he saw his dad “on his mother and was hitting and kicking her.”
Harris told police all their children witnessed the attack, in which she suffered minor injuries on her face and arms, the report said. She said Mayweather told them “he would beat their asses if they left the house or called the police.”
Koraun told police that Mayweather also took his and his brother’s cellphones. The boy escaped through a back door of the house in the 3800 block of Tropical Vine Street and contacted security.
Prosecutors said the plea agreement shows that the battery count stems from Mayweather’s attack on Harris and that the harassment counts are for threatening his children.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said Mayweather next week will plead no contest to a misdemeanor charge of battery and pay a $1,000 fine for poking and verbally abusing a security guard over parking issues in November 2010.
A police report showed that a confrontation ensued after guard Shayne Smith cited two Mayweather vehicles for violating parking rules at the Southern Highlands Estates, where the boxer owns a $9.5 million, 12,000-square-foot mansion.
Authorities said Mayweather was verbally abusive and jabbed his finger into Smith’s cheek, resulting in redness and discoloration on the left side of Smith’s face.
Last month, Mayweather was found not guilty of two counts of misdemeanor harassment stemming from an obscenity-laced confrontation with security guards over parking tickets at Southern Highlands.
Mayweather has been convicted and sentenced to probation after incidents involving violence toward women. But Mayweather was found not guilty of a domestic violence charge involving Harris in 2005, after she told jurors she lied about being beaten.
In December 2003, she told police he assaulted her outside a nightclub during an argument over another woman. But at the July 2005 trial, Harris testified that Mayweather was a “teddy bear” who had never laid a hand on her. The jury acquitted Mayweather of the felony domestic violence charge.
The boxer also has been linked to, but not charged in, a shooting in August 2009 outside the Crystal Palace Skating Center on Boulder Highway near Flamingo Road.
Authorities allege that Ocie Harris, a Mayweather bodyguard, shot at a BMW containing Quincey Williams and Damein Bland as the car left the skating rink. The car was hit six times. The victims allege the shooting occurred after Mayweather threatened Williams’ life over insulting text messages. No one was injured.
Harris faces six felonies, including attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon. A trial is set for Feb. 6.
Williams and Bland have filed a civil lawsuit against Mayweather over the incident.
There are several other lawsuits against Mayweather pending in civil court over allegations of his bodyguards assaulting people at casinos and nightclubs in Las Vegas.
In his most recent fight in September, Mayweather knocked out Victor Ortiz to take the WBC welterweight championship and run his record to 42-0.
Mayweather recently announced his next fight will be May 5. The opponent is unknown, but the public hopes to see Mayweather fight Manny Pacquiao .
Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@review journal.com or 702-380-1039.
