Urias domestic violence case turned over to DA

LOS ANGELES — Law enforcement authorities have concluded their investigation into major league pitcher Julio Urias and have turned their case over to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether Urias will be criminally charged.

Urias, the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers starter who is now a free agent, was arrested on the night of Sept. 3 on suspicion of felony domestic violence and was placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball three days later, effectively ending his season. The incident occurred in the parking lot of BMO Stadium after an LAFC soccer match. The California Highway Patrol’s major crimes division spent the ensuing three months investigating before handing the case over Monday.

There is no timetable for a decision by the DA’s office. A potential suspension by MLB, which is conducting an independent investigation, likely would have to wait until after the DA’s office renders its judgment, given that the league presumably would not be able to interview Urias until then.

An arrest report released by the Department of Public Safety on Sept. 7 stated that a concerned citizen saw a man attacking a woman after the match Sept. 3 and flagged police, unaware the man was Urias. The man and woman were then approached by officers from the state police agency who determined a physical altercation had occurred. Urias was arrested on suspicion of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant just after 11 p.m. PT and booked into jail around 1 a.m. He was released on $50,000 bail close to four hours later.

Signed out of Mexico shortly after his 16th birthday, Urias, 27, navigated the Dodgers’ farm system as a prized pitching prospect, eventually starring as a 19-year-old rookie in 2016. He then returned from major shoulder surgery to become an important contributor on championship-caliber teams, 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.

As a free agent with relatively few innings under his belt, Urias was widely projected to sign a $200 million-plus contract on the open market before his arrest. Now he faces the prospect of another suspension, three years after being banned for 20 games in the wake of another domestic violence allegation. Urias was not criminally charged in that incident. There has never been a repeat offender under the league’s 8-year-old domestic violence policy.