Joe Son
Mugshot of Son, 2008.
Born
Son Hyungmin

(1970-11-22) November 22, 1970
Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, South Korea[lower-alpha 1]
CitizenshipUnited States
Occupation(s)Murderer, rapist, former actor, mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler
Criminal statusIncarcerated at California State Prison, Los Angeles County[1]
Conviction(s)Felony vandalism, torture, voluntary manslaughter
Criminal penalty34 years to life
Martial arts career
Other namesIron Ball
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Weight236 lb (107 kg; 16.9 st)
DivisionHeavyweight
StyleTaekwondo, Kickboxing, Judo, Wrestling
Fighting out ofLas Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
TeamLord's Gym
Rank  3rd Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo
Years active1994–2002
Kickboxing record
Total1
Wins0
Losses1
Mixed martial arts record
Total4
Wins0
Losses4
By knockout2
By submission2
Korean name
Hangul
손형민
Revised RomanizationSon Hyeong-min
McCune–ReischauerSon Hyǒng-min

Joseph Hyungmin Son (Korean: 손형민; born November 22, 1970) is a South Korean-born American convicted rapist and murderer and a former mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler and actor. Prior to his 2008 arrest, he was best known for his appearance in the 1997 film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. In 2011, he was sentenced to seven years to life in prison in California for torture committed during a 1990 gang rape. After beating his cell mate Michael Thomas Graham to death, he was sentenced to an additional 27 years for voluntary manslaughter. He is now serving 34 years to life.[2]

Early life

Son was born in Gwangju, South Korea. He moved to California at an early age.[3]

Mixed martial arts career

Son was a mixed martial arts fighter and retired with a record of 0–4.[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".[5] 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.[6] Hackney then squeezed Joe Son's throat with his pronated left hand. Son tapped out, which lead 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)".[7] 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[8] and working as singer and dancer for HUSTLE's third event.[9]

Acting career

Son is best known for his role in the 1997 movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery as Random Task, a parody of the James Bond character Odd Job.[10] 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).[9][11]

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. On August 18, 2008, he was taken into custody and given an additional 90 days in jail, due to a probation violation for failing to report to the Department of Probation and keep them informed of his current residence. As a condition of his original plea agreement, Son was required to provide a DNA sample. In early October 2008, his DNA sample was linked to a gang rape on Christmas Eve, 1990. Already in custody for a probation violation, Son was arrested at the Theo Lacy facility on October 7, 2008.[12]

Son was initially charged in Orange County, California, with five counts of rape, 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 if convicted.[4][13]

Son and an accomplice tortured and repeatedly raped the 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." Before jury selection began for his trial in early August 2011, the initial charges against Son were dropped having expired due to the statute of limitations. Son was then charged with conspiracy to commit murder and torture, crimes which have no statute of limitations.[14] In late August, Son was found guilty of one felony count of torture.

During the trial, the Orange County District Attorney's Office maintained that both Son and his co-defendant, Santiago Lopez Gaitan, pistol-whipped their female victim, repeatedly threatened to kill her, and raped her before finally releasing her. Gaitan, 40, pleaded 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. On September 19, 2011, Son was sentenced to 7 years to life.[12]

In October 2011, Son was accused of killing his cellmate, Michael Thomas Graham, who was serving two years for failure to register as a sex offender in the county in February.[15][16] The killing happened on October 10, 2011, on "B" Yard Reception, building 5 at Wasco State Prison. The beating occurred at 5:25 p.m., and Graham died 25 minutes later from multiple blunt force trauma.[17][18] After the killing, Son was moved to solitary confinement.[19] 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.[20]

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 Notes
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 Japan Nobuaki Kakuda KO (Punch) K-3 Grand Prix '95 July 16, 1995 1 1:40 Japan Nagoya, Japan [21]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Gwangju was capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office moved to Namak in Muan County in 2005, because Gwangju was promoted to a metropolitan city and was independent of South Jeolla province.

References

  1. ↑ "Inmate Information". CDCR Inmate Locator. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. August 4, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021. Current Location: California State Prison, Los Angeles County
  2. ↑ "Joe Son". IMDb. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ Albertson, Cammila (2011). "Joe Son". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 4, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  4. 1 2 Child, Ben (October 10, 2008). "Austin Powers Henchman faces life in prison". The Guardian. London. Retrieved March 18, 2009.
  5. ↑ Newman, Scott (August 16, 2006). "MMA Review: #53: UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors". The Oratory. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  6. ↑ UFC 4: Keith Hackney vs Joe Son – BRUTAL Groin Shots!. Archived from the original on December 19, 2021 – via YouTube.
  7. ↑ "XP 2 – Xtreme Pankration 2".
  8. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "AJPW 2ND WRESTLE-1 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.
  9. 1 2 "The MMA Mental Hall of Fame: Joe Son a.k.a. Random Task". ColinTimberlake.com. January 17, 2009. Archived from the original on January 19, 2010. Retrieved September 12, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ↑ Liddy, Tom (October 10, 2008). "'Austin' Actor in Rape Bust". New York Post. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
  11. ↑ Bullet Points: Shootfighter 2, bulletproofaction.com, April 5, 2016
  12. 1 2 "Orange County District Attorney Press Release". Archived from the original on August 20, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. ↑ "'Austin Powers' Actor Charged in Unsolved Gang Rape". Fox News. October 10, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2009.
  14. ↑ Welborn, Larry (August 16, 2011). "'Austin Powers' actor on trial in rape case". The Orange County Register. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Joe Son Suspected in California Inmate's Death". Sherdog.com. October 11, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
  16. ↑ Howard, Greg (October 12, 2011). "Austin Powers Actor Suspected of Killing Cellmate". Slate. Archived from the original on March 30, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Former movie actor charged with murder". KGET-TV. September 12, 2013. Archived from the original on December 20, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Former actor could face death penalty in prison killing". The Bakersfield Californian. September 13, 2013. Archived from the original on August 6, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  19. ↑ "'Austin Powers' Actor Suspected Of Prison Killing". The Huffington Post. October 11, 2011.
  20. ↑ Kotowski, Jason (July 24, 2017). "'Austin Powers' actor found guilty of lesser charge of manslaughter". The Bakersfield Californian. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
  21. ↑ Habermann, Jens. "fighter's profile – Joe Son – K-1sport.de". k-1sport.de.
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