Testimony in the attempted murder trial of War Machine, the MMA fighter who legally changed his name from Jonathan Koppenhaver, continues on Monday. He is charged with attempted murder and sexual assault for allegedly attacking his porn star girlfriend Christy Mack, whose real name is Christine Mackinday, and another man, Corey Thomas, in Mack’s Las Vegas home.
Mack herself first took the stand on Wednesday, tearfully recalling details of her past relationship with War Machine, including previous instances of abuse as well as what happened the night he allegedly assaulted her and Thomas. She described the highs and lows of their relationship, then went into their sexual history, including consensual rough sex and choking, which was different from instances of non-consensual violence that she also described. Defense attorneys have hinted that they will try to portray any violence that War Machine committed against Mack as a consensual part of their relationship.
Mack testified that War Machine was physically abusive on a number of occasions, and that she feared telling anyone because War Machine threatened to send friends from the NAVY SEALs or from the Hell’s Angels to harm her if she reported the abuse to friends, family, or to the authorities. Some attacks left her bruised to the point of not wanting to go out in public, she said.
When Mack described the night in August 2014 when War Machine is accused of assaulting herself and Thomas. She admitted that she did not remember everything that happened. Still, she was able to discuss how she called 911 while War Machine was allegedly beating Thomas and that she thought she was “going to die” when he turned his attention to her. She said she remembered him using a knife to cut her hair, having a tooth falling out of her mouth, and remembered War Machine telling her “that nobody could help me, that they were just broken ribs and nobody can heal that, anyway.”
Defense attorneys spent considerable time Friday exploiting confusion between Mack, the nurse who examined her, and the authorities who examined the case. Mack did not know the legal definition of penetration at the time of the attack and did not at first think she was sexually assaulted in the legal sense of the term.
Also on Friday, prosecutors called Mack’s business associate, John Roquemore, who testified covering up bruises left by the attack in photos taken shortly thereafter.
Crime scene analyst William Speas testified about photographs and evidence collection after the attack. He stated that Mack was unable to communicate with him due to her condition when he photographed her injuries. While no blood was found on some of the knives collected from Mack’s home, Speas did find fibers on one knife which were not retained as evidence. Speas testified that he wishes he had retained the fibers after learning more facts about the case. Mack testified that War Machine used her kitchen knives to cut her hair and various wigs that she wore professionally. However, the evidence of fibers described by Speas was not retained.
Video coverage of the case was halted late Friday, as the first of two witnesses who asked to be neither identified nor photographed was called by prosecutors.
Court will resume at approximately 10:30 am Las Vegas time. Stay with LawNewz.com and the LawNewz Network for continuing coverage of the case.
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