Openings begin in Las Vegas trial of ex-fighter War Machine
LAS VEGAS — Prosecutors began casting a former mixed martial arts fighter named War Machine on Monday as violent in his relationship with his porn star girlfriend and murderous when he found her asleep one morning with another man in her bedroom.
Jonathan Paul Koppenhaver’s defence attorney, Jay Leiderman, didn’t deny during opening statements that a fight took place early one morning in August 2014.
But he characterized Christy Mack and Koppenhaver as “two damaged people” — each with an adopted public name, deep image insecurities and a co-dependent relationship that revolved around sex, constant attention and internet personas that exploded into violence.
“It was a co-dependency that was bound to erupt at some time,” Leiderman told the state court jury during opening statements in a trial expected to last a couple of weeks.