The UFC Hall of Famer has been arrested five times by Hawaii police since late May in connection with an ongoing dispute with his mother, in which Penn claims his family has been murdered and replaced by imposters. Penn currently faces multiple criminal charges for the series of incidents, including abuse of a family member, refusing to obey a police officer and violating a restraining order.
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Judge Peter Kubota stayed the three pending cases against Penn, 46, last Wednesday until the former UFC champion undergoes the mental examination on January 9.
According to Hawaii News Now, which first reported the news:
If Penn is deemed unfit to proceed, he will be placed in the custody of the state and placed in an appropriate facility for treatment.
If the examiner determines that Penn is not criminally responsible but competent to proceed, Penn could use that as a defense if his case goes to trial. If so, a judge or jury could find Penn guilty, not guilty, or not guilty by reason of insanity.
Both Penn and his attorney tried to convince the judge not to order the test.
“Maybe three times you said, ‘Mr. Penn, I know you’re a smart man. I just think you should get a lawyer because of all the different legal issues,'” Penn said. “So how did I go from being an intelligent man to taking a mental health exam?”
Judge Jeffrey Ng granted Penn’s mother, Lorraine Shin, a one-year protective order against Penn in late August, preventing her son from contacting her in any way before May 26, 2026. Shin, 79, substantiated her claim of “domestic abuse and/or extreme psychological abuse” during court proceedings and alleged that Penn suffers from a rare disorder psychological condition known as Capgras syndrome, which makes you believe that your family members have been replaced by impostors.
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Penn was arrested on consecutive days on May 25 and 26, then again on May 30, June 12 and September 16 on charges related to the situation.
Penn has made multiple posts on his social media accounts over the past year alleging that members of his family have been replaced by impostors, with a particular focus on his mother.
In Shin’s initial request for a restraining order, she alleged a pattern of disturbing behavior on the part of her son. After returning from a trip in early May, Shin said she noticed that many of her belongings “such as clothes, shoes, jewelry, personal items” and even her bed had been removed from her bedroom. Shin filed a police report after Penn denied taking the items, she said, and a few days later her purse was also stolen “with my driver’s license, my credit card and the locks on my safe.”
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Shin said he then installed security cameras inside and outside the house, while also installing a lock on his bedroom door. According to Shin, Penn dismantled or tampered with the cameras and “also put glue on the locks that prevented me from opening my bedroom door.”
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Shin claimed Penn then stole her mail and aggressively pointed a flashlight in her face on the night of May 25 when they confronted her. To prevent her from calling the police, Shin claimed that Penn “grabbed my arms and pushed me against the gray 4-door sedan, and I felt a sharp pain in my back,” causing her to yell for Penn’s younger brother, Reagan, to come help. Penn was eventually arrested and ordered to stay away from his mother’s house for 48 hours, however, Shin claimed that he caught Penn breaking into his house again the next day. As a result, Penn was arrested again for violating the police order.
Penn last fought in the UFC in 2019, suffering his seventh consecutive loss. He was later released by the UFC after a video was released showing Penn in a street fight outside a Hawaii bar.