MMA's Jason 'Mayhem' Miller Charged with Assaulting Police

Mixed martial arts fighter Jason “Mayhem” Miller pleaded not guilty today to charges stemming from the latest in a series of confrontations with Orange County law enforcement.

Miller, who was arrested early Friday after an “eight-minute struggle” with sheriff’s deputies at his Mission Viejo home, was charged today with two felony counts each of assault with a weapon on a peace officer and resisting arrest.

Miller, 34, also faces misdemeanor counts of battery, false imprisonment and resisting law enforcement officers.

Deputies were called to Miller’s residence at 1:34 a.m. Friday on an anonymous report of a disturbance, according to sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock. When deputies arrived, they heard a woman screaming in the house, and as they went to the side yard of the home, Miller confronted them, Hallock alleged.

Miller is accused of hurling a ceramic tile at the deputies and threatening them with a large fire extinguisher and metal pole as he backed up to his yard. Eventually, deputies used a “Taser” to subdue him, Hallock said.

Before the deputies arrived, Miller allegedly had some sort of “altercation” in the home with two females, who were uncooperative with investigators, the lieutenant said.

Bail was set at $200,000, according to Deputy District Attorney Heidi Garrel, who said Miller was ordered to return to court next Monday for a pretrial hearing on the latest case and a few others he still faces.

On March 7, Miller was accused of kicking one officer and spitting at another one when they were called to the White House Restaurant in Laguna Beach because Miller had broken a bottle during a “ruckus” in the eatery, Garrel said.

In that case, Miller is charged with a felony count of resisting an executive officer, with a sentence-enhancing allegation of committing a crime while out on bail, and misdemeanor counts each of resisting police and battery on a police officer.

On Jan. 23, Miller allegedly “blew out a pair of speakers” by turning up the volume all the way in a tattoo parlor, Garrel said. The damage to the speakers was estimated to be $650, and Miller is charged with misdemeanor vandalism in that case, Garrel said.

Miller got into a standoff with sheriff’s deputies last October, during which he penned a flurry of Twitter posts as it was happening.

Miller was declared a fugitive Sept. 8 of last year when he failed to show up for a hearing in a domestic violence and stalking case, prompting deputies to go to his Mission Viejo home on Oct. 9 of last year with an arrest warrant.

When deputies showed up at his home around 10:30 a.m. that day, he came to the door but ran back inside and refused to come out. Nearly four hours later, SWAT officers placed a device on his door that blew off the locks, prompting Miller to surrender.

Miller faces two counts of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and stalking, all felonies, and a misdemeanor count of violating a protective order in that case, according to court records.

Miller had vandalism charges against him dismissed in November 2012, but found himself in trouble with the law again for the domestic violence case in August 2013.

In August 2012, he was charged with breaking at least one picture frame and damaging a propane tank and other items while spray-painting inside Mission Hills Church, causing at least $400 in damage.

The church’s pastor told authorities he found Miller nude except for a cloth wrapped around him and books and CDs scattered around the church, along with broken picture frames and fire extinguisher dust on the first and second floors.

City News Service; Wikimedia Commons