Julio Urías charged with five misdemeanors stemming from 2023 arrest

Former Dodger Julio Urías charged with five misdemeanors stemming from 2023 arrest

Former Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías was charged with five misdemeanors by the Los Angeles City Attorney's office on Monday.

April 9, 2024 Updated 4:17 PM PT

Former Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías has been charged with five misdemeanors stemming from his arrest for suspicion of domestic violence last September, a spokesperson from the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office confirmed Tuesday.

The charges include one count of spousal battery, two counts of domestic battery involving dating relationship, one count of false imprisonment and one count of assault. An arraignment is scheduled for May 2.

Urías, 27, was just months away from what was expected to be a lucrative free agency when he was arrested outside BMO Stadium after an LAFC game on Sept. 3. That night, a person alerted police that a man and a woman were involved in a physical altercation, according to a report from the Exposition Park Department of Public Safety.

Exposition Park police officers approached Urías and the woman — his wife, Daisy — and “determined a physical altercation had occurred,” the report said. Urías was then taken into custody and released the next morning on $50,000 bail.

Urías spent the rest of last season — which began with his first career opening day start for the Dodgers — on administrative leave before his contract expired in early November.

The pitcher was not signed by another team this offseason. He could face discipline from Major League Baseball, which is investigating whether he violated the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy for the second time.

Urías was suspended 20 games in 2019 after being arrested — but not charged — on misdemeanor suspicion of domestic violence.

No player has been suspended twice under MLB’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy.

According to a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly, Urías has not yet been interviewed by the league. Players are typically advised not to speak to league investigators until the legal process has played out, since anything they say could be used against them in court.

“Our investigation is ongoing,” an MLB spokesman said Tuesday. “We have no further comment.”

A law enforcement investigation into the incident was completed by officers from the California Department of Public Safety in December. The probe included cellphone footage of the alleged incident captured by a bystander.

In January, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office declined to charge Urías with a felony, finding that he had pushed his wife “against a fence and pulled her by the hair or shoulders,” but that “neither the victim’s injuries nor the defendant’s criminal history justify a felony filing.”

The case was then passed to the City Attorney’s office, which filed its charges with the Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, according to spokesperson Ivor Pine.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts declined to comment on the situation before Tuesday’s game against the Twins in Minneapolis.

The maximum sentence for each of the first four of the charges is one year in county jail, according to the city attorney’s office. An assault conviction would carry a maximum sentence of six months in county jail.

Lou Shapiro, a veteran Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, said he did not anticipate Urías serving any jail time if convicted. Shapiro said the outcome could turn on what Urías’ wife might say in testimony, particularly with regard to the severity of any injuries.

In lieu of jail — or in addition to it — Shapiro said the court would have the option to order Urías to pay fines, do community service and/or complete a 52-week domestic violence counseling program.

After a similar incident in 2019, prosecutors agreed not to file charges if Urías agreed to complete a counseling program. Because charges were not filed then, Shapiro said, the court would consider this incident to be a first offense.

“I would be shocked if he went to jail on a first offense,” Shapiro said.