KAUK SENTENCED
Published in the Dec. 20, 2025 issue.
Professional climber Lonnie Kauk will not serve time in state or federal prison despite being convicted earlier this year of felony domestic violence strangulation, criminal threats, and vandalism, Mono County Superior Court Judge Gerald Mohun ruled Monday at a long-delayed sentencing hearing.
Instead, Mohun sentenced Kauk to four years of formal probation and 180 days in the Mono County Jail, along with mandatory domestic violence counseling, alcohol treatment, community service, and a decade-long criminal protective order barring any contact with the victim.
“I know this has been a political case for everyone,” Mohun said as he administered his final ruling.
Kauk was convicted by a jury in April of crimes stemming from a June 2023 domestic violence incident involving his then-girlfriend, Riley Hancock. Prosecutors alleged Kauk strangled her until she lost consciousness and threatened to kill her, her dog and her father.
Jurors found Kauk guilty of felony domestic violence strangulation, felony criminal threats, and felony vandalism. The jury reduced a fourth charge related to an injury to the victim’s lip to a misdemeanor.
He faced a potential sentence of up to 8 years and 4 months in state prison.
In Monday’s sentencing hearing, Mohun struck a “great bodily injury” enhancement attached to the domestic violence charge, reducing that count to a misdemeanor for sentencing purposes. He left the felony convictions for criminal threats and vandalism intact.
Mohun had originally scheduled the sentencing for June, but the defense postponed it through a series of continuances and post-trial motions. In the interim, Kauk replaced his trial attorney and filed a motion for a new trial, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel.
That motion, filed by Irvine-based attorneys Dan Wagner and Scott Simmons, argued that Kauk’s former attorney failed to pursue mental health diversion based on alcohol use disorder.
Mohun denied the request for a retrial but weighed the diagnosis heavily in his sentencing decision.
In explaining his decision to strike the great bodily injury enhancement, Mohun cited Penal Code section 1385(c), which allows courts to dismiss sentencing enhancements in furtherance of justice when certain mitigating circumstances are present.
Mohun said the most significant mitigating factor was Kauk’s diagnosis of alcohol use disorder, which he found contributed to the offense. He also emphasized that Kauk had no prior criminal record and no history of arrests or convictions.
“While not diminishing the victim’s injuries or trauma, or minimizing the defendant’s criminal act of choking the victim,” Mohun said, the facts of the case were similar to other domestic violence cases in which probation is commonly granted.
He said the victim’s physical injuries did not require medical treatment and were resolved without long-term complications, factors he said weighed against treating the case as among the most severe domestic violence offenses.
Mohun also pointed to character letters submitted on Kauk’s behalf and said he attributed Kauk’s limited expressions of remorse to legal advice rather than an outright refusal to accept responsibility.
“I do not find that dismissal of the enhancement would endanger public safety,” Mohun said. “The character references submitted in support of the defendant show that he is generally a kind and peaceful person.”
Mono County Deputy District Attorney Lauren Ryerson urged the court to leave the enhancement in place, arguing the jury found it true beyond a reasonable doubt and that the evidence of strangulation was severe.
Ryerson described trial testimony proving the victim lost consciousness and suffered visible bruising consistent with expert testimony on strangulation injuries. She argued alcohol use should not mitigate conduct involving sustained choking and death threats.
“This was not the first time [he laid hands on her],” Ryerson said, referencing the victim’s testimony about prior abuse in the trial. “This was the first time he was caught, that he was being held accountable.”
Ryerson also criticized what she characterized as Kauk’s failure to acknowledge wrongdoing, pointing to statements made during a pretext phone call, the trial, the probation interview, and his evaluation with the diagnosing doctor.
“To be rehabilitated, you have to admit you’ve done something wrong,” she said. “That is not what we have before us.”
Defense counsel argued probation would better serve public safety by requiring treatment and supervision, rather than incarceration.
They described the incident as an aberration in an otherwise crime-free life and said probation would allow Kauk to address alcohol use and anger issues while being held accountable through strict conditions.
Mohun ultimately rejected the prosecution’s request to impose the enhancement and denied defense motions to reduce the felony criminal threats and vandalism convictions to misdemeanors.
He sentenced Kauk to 48 months of supervised probation, suspended imposition of sentence, and ordered him to serve 180 days in the Mono County Jail, with two days credit for time served. Kauk was allowed to report to jail after the holidays, no later than Jan. 2, 2026.
Additional conditions of the probation include the completion of a 52-week domestic violence program, enrollment in alcohol treatment through the Toiyabe Indian Health Project, total abstinence from alcohol with chemical testing upon request, 100 hours of community service, a lifetime ban on firearms, and a criminal protective order barring contact with the victim until Dec. 15, 2035.
The court also imposed a total of $2,118.91 in fees on Kauk but declined to impose any discretionary fines after defense counsel said that “his business has dried up as a result of this case.”
