Never say never, but in all likelihood, Julio Urías’ 2023 MLB season has come to an end. He most likely will not take the mound in a Los Angeles Dodgers cap again. For the second time in four years, he has been arrested on domestic violence charges. Neither arrest was at his home. Both were in public places.
The difference between his arrest in 2019 and his most current one is that this time, he is facing a felony charge. Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Urías was arrested on Sunday night and released on a $50,000 bond. According to the Los Angeles Times and NBC Los Angeles, Urías was taken into custody near BMO Harris Stadium following the Inter Miami vs. LAFC game.
While Los Angeles prosecutors elected not to press charges against Urías in 2019 after allegedly shoving a woman to the ground in a Beverly Center parking lot, he was in no way treated as innocent. He was ordered to complete a year-long domestic violence counseling program.
MLB suspended Urías for 20 games in August 2019. Through MLBPA he released a 169-word statement. He announced that he would not fight the suspension, and the rest of the statement was rubbish. There was no apology, and most of the statement was spent defending Urías. The worst part was this sentence: “Even in this instance where there was no injury or history of violence, I understand and agree that Major League Baseball players should be held to a higher standard.”
Not being ordered by a prosecutor to complete a year of domestic violence counseling is quite the skyscraper of a standard. Also, defending punished actions, specifically of physically abusing a woman, by stating that no injury was caused is truly pathetic.
Was Urías patting himself on the back for not leaving a bruise or drawing blood? He was reprimanded by his employer and the American legal system for an incident in which bystanders claimed he shoved a woman onto asphalt. That is indefensible.
When a wrong is committed and punishment is levied, there is nothing left to do but apologize and accept responsibility with no equivocation. Urías’ 2019 statement was that of a person who believed that he had committed no significant wrongdoing, and was simply going through the motions to get through his legal obligations and back on the mound.
It is difficult to get a conviction in a domestic violence case. In fact, according to the California Judicial Branch, the majority of the time people facing these charges never get to trial. Per the California Judicial Branch website: Most domestic violence cases do not go to trial. Most of the time, the defendant pleads guilty or no contest, and there is a plea agreement. This while according to 2021 data from the Department of Justice, 34 percent of women murdered in America were killed by an intimate partner.
Domestic violence is neither a platform to grandstand upon nor an issue worthy of diverting away from the courtroom because the complexity of the cases can lower a prosecutor’s conviction rate. It is a worldwide killer that should be attacked like any war criminal.
It is too early to tell whether or not justice will be served in Urías’ case. There are supposedly more details to come on Tuesday, and the Dodgers announced on Monday that he did not travel with the team to Miami.
What is clear, however, from that 2019 statement issued after being suspended by MLB and being ordered by a court into counseling, Urías felt that whatever took place in that parking lot was no big deal. Four years later he is facing charges of his abuse escalating. Whether or not this upcoming free agent ever takes the mound at an MLB park again is the least of my concerns.
I’m concerned about the safety of the alleged victim.
Original source here
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