Raja Jackson has pleaded not guilty.
The son of former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson appeared in court Thursday after being charged with felony and misdemeanor assault for attacked a professional wrestler at an event in Los Angeles last August. After being arrested in September and subsequently released on $50,000 bail, Jackson was back in court after the Los Angeles district attorney’s office filed charges against him.
Under the charges, Jackson faces up to seven years in prison if convicted, including a three-year sentence enhancement for allegedly causing “great bodily harm” to Stuart Smith, also known as Syko Stu.
The 25-year-old will appear in court again on November 24 for a preliminary hearing in his case.
Syko Stu is probably done wrestling after Raja Jackson’s attack
While attending a Knokx Pro event in Los Angeles, Jackson was scheduled to get into a match when he decided to go off script. Jackson slid into the ring, lifted Smith into the air and violently slammed him to the mat. Jackson then unleashed more than twenty uncontested punches, many of which landed after Smith had already fallen unconscious.
Smith was admitted to a local hospital, where he spent several days in intensive care. Family members later revealed that he suffered trauma to both the upper and lower jaws, a laceration to his upper lip and a fracture to the upper jaw bone, resulting in the loss of several teeth as a result of the attack.
Douglas Malo, one of the men who helped rip Jackson from Smith’s body during the attack, revealed TMZ that his friend’s professional wrestling career is likely over because of the attack.
“I don’t think it would even be smart at this point,” Malo said. “He wasn’t necessarily a spring chicken before the event.”
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