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After Series Of OC Arrests, Ex-MMA Fighter Takes Plea Deal

SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — Former mixed martial arts fighter Jason "Mayhem" Miller pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple crimes in several run-ins with Orange County law enforcement in a deal that will likely keep him out of jail.

Miller, 36, had just been acquitted in a domestic violence case involving a former girlfriend, partially triggering the conflicts with police, his attorney Cameron Talley said.

Under the plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Fitzgerald, Miller could face up to 21 years in prison if he runs afoul of the law again during his three-year probation.

"I begrudgingly pleaded guilty, but that's just the way the system works and I respect the system, and I respect the system more than I did at the beginning of this giant saga," Miller told reporters after the hearing.

The former mixed martial arts fighter, who lives in Mission Viejo, was acquitted Feb. 1 of beating up the former girlfriend, but the other charges involving conflicts with law enforcement were set aside for a separate trial.

Miller - who likened probation to "being in an invisible jail" - says that the process will inspire him to behave.

"I'm going to fly right," he said.

Miller has been linked to previous conflicts including being found running naked through a Mission Viejo church and setting off fire extinguishers, for which he was charged with vandalism, but that charge was dismissed; a standoff with deputies trying to serve an arrest warrant at his Mission Viejo home, during which he tweeted live; assaulting a deputy investigating a disturbance report, and spray-painting graffiti on the wall of a Lake Forest tattoo parlor.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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