UFC star Jackson accepts plea deal for Orange County hit and run incident

Things are looking up for former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, both inside the octagon and out.  At UFC 92, he made a successful return to competition with a dominating TKO victory over Wanderlei Silva and afterwards proclaimed “Rampage is back”.  On Thursday, his fortunes outside of the cage improved considerably with the announcement that Jackson has accepted a very favorable plea bargain arrangement to settle the criminal charges stemming from his infamous hit and run episode in Newport Beach, California last July.

Just ten days after losing his 205 pound title to Forrest Griffin at UFC 86, Jackson became a fixture on tabloid TV and websites following a bizarre incident in Southern California where he allegedly hit several vehicles, ran red lights and weaved in and out of traffic as he led police on a chase through Orange County.  The chase eventually ended when Rampage blew a tire and the photos of him being held at gunpoint on the ground were featured on newspapers worldwide.

Jackson originally entered a not guilty plea, which is the typical course of action for a defendant looking to negotiate a plea bargain.  He was originally charged with one felony count of evading while driving recklessly, one felony count of evading a peace officer and driving against traffic, three misdemeanor counts of hit and run with property damage, and one misdemeanor count of reckless driving.  At his preliminary hearing on Thursday, he reversed his plea to guilty on one misdemeanor count of reckless driving and one felony count of evading a peace officer and driving against traffic,

Under the terms of the plea deal, Jackson’s sentencing will be deferred until January 7, 2010 and his behavior monitored over the next year.  What this means that as long as “Rampage” stays on the straight and narrow that when he is finally sentenced the felony count will be dismissed and he’ll only be sentenced on the misdemeanor count.  If he doesn’t meet the court prescribed conditions of his plea deal, he’ll be sentenced on both counts.  Jackson could potentially be sentenced to up to six months in jail, however assuming he meets the conditions of his plea agreement it’s unlikely that he’ll face any jail time.   Jackson has also agreed to pay restitution on all of the charges, including the ones that were dismissed.

His attorney, Carol Lavacot, issued a statement detailing the conditions of the plea agreement and what exactly Rampage signed off on:

"Today, Quinton entered into a plea agreement that was fashioned to place more time between the instance and the resolution. The agreement is analogous to a deferred entry of judgment in that the plea to count two, evading a peace officer and driving against traffic, will be withdrawn and dismissed at the end of one year if Quinton's doctors are assured that he has maintained good physical and mental health and he has complied with the other terms of the agreement. He will be seeing his doctor's regularly with bimonthly reports provided to the district attorney. He will also perform 200 hours of community service, which will be designed to reach as many young people as possible,"

Lavacot continued, explaining the factors that led to Jackson’s hit and run “rampage”:

"Quinton's decompensation on July 15, 2008, was precipitated by multiple factors interacting with one another. None of these factors included drugs or alcohol. It is the opinion of his doctor's that Quinton suffered a brief episode of delirium, which was reactive to situational and metabolic difficulties. He is learning to manage the stressors in his life and has been working with a nutritionist to maintain his physical as well as his mental health.”

"Quinton, from the beginning, has wanted to take responsibility for his actions. He has learned a great deal about his physical body and about mental health. During this next year, Quinton has chosen to share his knowledge of how good nutrition, exercise, and sufficient sleep leads to success. He will be speaking to groups of young people in the hope that his unfortunate incident can be turned into something positive for others."

Following his impressive showing against Silva—which Jackson credited to his new training home at England’s Wolfslair Gym—he could be back in action by late spring/early summer.