# Joe Son

Joseph Hyungmin Son (Korean: 손형민; born November 22, 1970) is a convicted felon, former actor, and former mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and professional wrestler. He competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and K-1 Kickboxing during his combat sports career. As an actor, he was best known for his appearance in the 1997 film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
In 2008, he was arrested in connection to a 1990 sexual assault after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. In 2011, he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years to life in prison in California. While incarcerated, he was convicted of beating his cell mate to death and was sentenced to an additional 27 years for voluntary manslaughter.

## Early life

Son was born in Gwangju, South Korea. He moved to the US at an early age.

## Mixed martial arts career

Son was a mixed martial arts fighter and retired with a record of 0–4. Though he had appeared before in Ultimate Fighting Championship's UFC 3 in 1994 as Kimo Leopoldo's cornerman, Son had his proper debut at the UFC 4 event, entering the tournament billed as a Taekwondo 3rd Dan Black Belt and founder of a style called "Jo Son Do". He was pitted against Kenpo Karate fighter Keith Hackney, whom Son outweighed by 30 pounds, but was seven inches shorter. Son was able to perform a takedown and a front headlock attempt, but Hackney countered by punching Son's groin repeatedly, which was legal under the rules of the event. Hackney then squeezed Son's throat with his pronated left hand. Son tapped out, which led to him being eliminated from the tournament.
After his fight in UFC, Son competed in a match for the K-1 Kickboxing federation, facing established star Nobuaki Kakuda. The much heavier Son initially led the pace with body shots and knees, scoring a mild knockdown by right hook, but he was eventually knocked out by Kakuda via high kick and punches.
In 2002, Son debuted for Japanese promotion PRIDE Fighting Championships, fighting Takada Dojo exponent Yusuke Imamura at the PRIDE The Best Vol.2. He infamously wore a leopard thong with the PRIDE logo and sported eye makeup, as well as a bowler hat at his entrance, and hugged Imamura during the staredown. The bout was short, and Son quit after he was taken down and almost slid out of the ring, claiming an elbow injury.
On April 12, 2002, Son also took part in Xtreme Pankration 2, wherein he faced Joe Moreira. After a brief exchange of strikes, Moreira landed a hit which drew blood, and Son then refused to continue fighting, and the fight was called. The result was officially listed as "submission (terror)". Son would return to PRIDE in July, facing Jukei Nakajima, and he once again gave up after being injured by being thrown on his head by the Japanese fighter.
Son was also a professional wrestler in Japan for a short time, wrestling Shinya Hashimoto at All Japan Pro Wrestling's second Wrestle-1 event and working as singer and dancer for HUSTLE's third event.

## Acting career

Apart from his criminal convictions, Son is known for his role in the 1997 movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery as Random Task, a parody of the James Bond character Oddjob. This was also his final film role. Previously, Son had appeared in several low-budget action films, including Joshua Tree (1993) and Bloodfist V: Human Target (1994). He played the main villain in the Lorenzo Lamas action film Bad Blood in 1994. He plays a supporting role in Shootfighter: Fight to the Death (1993) and a leading role as the main villain in its sequel Shootfighter II (1996).

## Torture and manslaughter convictions

Joe Son was first arrested for kicking in the door of a roommate's car. He pleaded guilty to felony vandalism on May 16, 2008, whereupon he was sentenced to probation and 60 days in jail. As a condition of his plea agreement, Son was required to provide a DNA sample. On August 18, 2008, he was taken into custody and given an additional 90 days in jail for failing to report to the Department of Probation and keep them informed of his current residence. In early October 2008, his DNA sample was matched to a sexual assault cold case that occurred on Christmas Eve, 1990. Already in custody for a probation violation, Son was arrested at the Theo Lacy facility on October 7, 2008.
On December 24, 1990, the anonymous victim was walking back to her apartment alone with her dog. Son distracted her by asking for directions and pretending he was lost. Son, and accomplice Santiago Gaitan, a friend from high school, then forcibly dragged her to their car, and threatened to kill her. Son and Gaitan repeatedly raped, sodomized, tortured, and pistol whipped the woman. Eventually, after pushing her out of the car naked and carrying out a mock execution, Son released her. Investigators collected DNA from the woman and created composite sketches, but there was not a large enough DNA databank in 1990 to make a connection, and the sketches went unrecognized.
After Son's 2008 arrest, the search began for his accomplice. Gaitan was identified when a photograph of Joe Son was paired with the sketches, and detectives matched his DNA to the crime scene.
Son was initially charged in Orange County, California, with five counts of sexual assault, two felony counts of forcible sodomy, two felony counts of sodomy in concert by force, seven felony counts of forcible oral copulation, and one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object by force. He faced a maximum sentence of 275 years to life. However, before jury selection could begin for his trial in August 2011, the charges against Son were dropped having expired due to the statute of limitations on rape and kidnapping. Son was instead charged with conspiracy to commit murder and torture, crimes with no statute of limitations.
Gaitan, 40, confessed and pled guilty to one felony count each of kidnapping, "sodomy by force in concert", "rape in concert", "forcible oral copulation", and "forcible rape with a sentencing enhancement for committing rape while armed with a firearm". He was sentenced January 28, 2011, to 17 years and four months in state prison, with parole possible in 2018.
In an interrogation video filmed by the Huntington Beach Police Department, Son touts his acting career, but denied the crime or any contact with the victim, which he maintained to his trial. During the trial, the Orange County District Attorney's Office maintained that Son and his co-defendant pistol-whipped, tortured and repeatedly sexually assaulted their female victim before releasing her with her pants tied around her eyes. During the trial, the woman said that Son told her: "It's Christmas. This is your lucky day."
On September 19, 2011, Son was found guilty of one felony count of torture, and sentenced to 7 years to life. Less than a month later, Son was accused of killing his cellmate, Michael Graham, who was serving two years for failure to register as a sex offender. The beating happened on October 10, 2011, at 5:25 pm, on "B" Yard Reception, building 5 at Wasco State Prison. Graham died 25 minutes later from multiple blunt force trauma. After the killing, Son was moved to solitary confinement. On September 13, 2013, Son was charged with Graham's murder. At his trial in 2017, he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and received a 27-year sentence. He is now serving 34 years to life.

## Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown :
| 4 matches | 0 wins | 4 losses |
| By knockout | 0 | 2 |
| By submission | 0 | 2 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location |
| Loss | 0–4 | Jukei Nakajima | TKO (shoulder injury) | Pride The Best Vol.2 | July 20, 2002 | 1 | 0:54 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Loss | 0–3 | Joe Moreira | Submission (terror) | Xtreme Pankration 2 | April 12, 2002 | 1 | N/A | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Loss | 0–2 | Yusuke Imamura | TKO (elbow injury) | Pride The Best Vol.1 | February 22, 2002 | 1 | 0:33 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Loss | 0–1 | Keith Hackney | Submission (hand squeeze choke) | UFC 4 | December 16, 1994 | 1 | 2:44 | Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States |

## Kickboxing record

| Result | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
| Loss | 0–1 | Nobuaki Kakuda | KO (Punch) | K-3 Grand Prix '95 | July 16, 1995 | 1 | 1:40 | Nagoya, Japan | |