Ray McDonald will not be charged with felony domestic abuse stemming from an early-morning, Aug. 31 dispute with his fiancee at his San Jose home. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said it had insufficient evidence to charge McDonald, a 49ers' defensive end. The incident occurred during a birthday celebration for McDonald.
At a press conference this morning, Lindsay Walsh, the deputy district attorney assigned to the case, said McDonald's fiancee, called Jane Doe for the purposes of the investigation, suffered minor injuries "consistent with restraint rather than an attack." Further complicating any criminal charge against McDonald were her lack of cooperation beyond an initial interview and a lack of other witnesses, Walsh said.
Walsh also said that the fiancee was asked during her 911 call if McDonald had hit her. "She was very clear that she said he’s trying to throw me out of the house," Walsh said. "She never used the word choking, grabbing punching, anything of that nature," said Walsh.
"Because of conflicting accounts, the lack of a verifiable eyewitness, and the lack of cooperation by Jane Doe, we cannot prove that a crime occurred."
Cindy Hendrickson, supervising deputy district attorney for the Family Violence Unit, said, "The issue … is always the amount of force used. And one issue we had to contend with here is Jane Doe's lack of cooperation after the initial investigation. And part of the regular investigation pursuant to our Santa Clara County domestic violence protocol is recontacting victims 48 hours later and getting photos of the injuries, because sometimes those injuries manifest in a way that we can tell more about how much force was used. That evidence isn’t available here."