Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will not file felony charges against former Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has announced that it will not file felony charges against former Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias following his arrest on suspicion of felony domestic violence. According to the charge-evaluation worksheet, the office stated that “neither the victim’s injuries nor the defendant’s criminal history justify a felony filing.”
The case will now be moved to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office for misdemeanor filing considerations. Major League Baseball has launched an independent investigation into the incident and is likely to wait until the city attorney’s office rules before determining a potential suspension for Urias.
Urias, who is currently a free agent, was previously suspended 20 games by MLB in August 2019 following an arrest on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic battery, though he was not criminally charged in that incident. If suspended again, Urias would become the first repeat offender in the history of the league’s domestic violence policy.
The 27-year-old was arrested on the night of September 3 on suspicion of corporal injury on a spouse and was placed on administrative leave by MLB three days later, effectively ending his season. The incident took place in the parking lot of BMO Stadium after an LAFC soccer match, during which an eyewitness saw Urias get into a physical altercation with his wife. Urias was released on $50,000 bail the following morning.
The California Highway Patrol’s major crimes division spent the following three months investigating the incident before handing the case to the District Attorney’s Office on Dec. 11. The office’s charge-evaluation worksheet stated that Urias pushed the victim against a fence and “pulled her by the hair or shoulders.”
Urias, who was signed out of Mexico shortly after his 16th birthday, was a prized pitching prospect in the Dodgers’ farm system. He became a prominent player, recording the final out of the 2020 World Series, accumulating 20 wins in 2021, and finishing third in National League Cy Young Award voting in 2022.
Before the incident, Urias was projected to sign a $200-plus million contract on the open market as a young free agent with relatively few innings under his belt. However, his MLB future now seems to be in serious jeopardy, even in the absence of a criminal conviction.