A judge has issued a fugitive warrant for Ralph Gracie after the BJJ black belt failed to appear in court on Wednesday for his arraignment, according to NBC Los Angeles. However, the judge has put the warrant on hold until an October 15 hearing for Gracie.
Gracie was set to appear in court following his alleged assault of Flavio Almeida at No-Gi Worlds at the end of last year. The incident reportedly stemmed from a dispute between Almeida and Gracie over Almeida’s decision to open an academy near Gracie’s. Following the alleged assault (the video footage of which can be viewed here), Gracie was charged with assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and indefinitely suspended from attending or participating in any IBJJF events.
Per NBC Los Angeles, Gracie’s attorney, Harley Breite, explained that Gracie’s absence was due to him caring for his elderly father in Rio de Janeiro, who had reportedly hit his head and fallen into a coma.
Ralph’s brother, Renzo, shared a post on Instagram in support of Ralph.
“My Lawyer, Harley Breite and I flew from NJ to California to defend my brother Ralph. We already had the Co-Defendant Lincoln Pereira downgraded from a Felony to a Misdemeanor and released last month. The District Attorney has 2 Supervisors with him today and tried to prevent my attorney from even speaking and asked for an arrest warrant against Ralph and for the Judge to watch the video. When my lawyer spoke, the Judge denied the Supervisors everything they asked for. The Victim, Flavio Almeida, gave a 20 minute speech calling Ralph a “coward”, “thug” and “terrorist” and said that if Ralph had the courage to fight him that Ralph “knows he wouldn’t last long”. Ralph didn’t have to appear today so it was very easy to say that. But we will return on October 15th to finish Ralph’s case with Ralph in court.”
