ESPN Senior NFL Analyst Chris Mortensen on status of San Francisco 49'ers Ray McDonald Domestic Violence Case

ESPN Senior NFL Analyst Chris Mortensen articled the status of the pending legal action facing San Francisco 49ers Defensive End Ray McDonald last sunday. According to Santa Clara District Attorney's office, Ray McDonald was arrested on August 31st. McDonald was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence while celebrating his 30th birthday at his house with fellow 49er teammates and various friends and acquantices. McDonald lives at the home with his fiancee. An unidentified woman was alleged to have been physically hurt by McDonald. Santa Clara Police stated that the alledged woman had "visible injuries". At this time two court hearings have been delayed.

According to Mortensen's sources, Harbough and company are prepared to discipline McDonald with a possible termination of contract or a suspension. Mcdonald has still been training and playing with the team since the incident. In fact, last sunday was the fourth start for McDonald since the charges were filed. League sources also claim that Jed York, President of the San Francisco 49ers, and Trent Baalke, 49er General Manager, have been insistent that they will honor 'due process' regarding McDonald's case. San Francisco representatives have been in coordination and communication with the NFL on the case. Thus, it seems all parties involved will be waiting for new evidence or information to come forth via Santa Clara Police and Santa Clara District Attorney findings, as one of Mortensen's sources expressed. Santa Clara District Attorney office also announced, "Prosecutors will review, decide whether or not to file criminal charges, or seek further investigation," after the DA office received the case.

Chris Mortensen furthered explained that even as 'due process' will be honored, there is concern for McDonald. Any evidence or information which is released by the investigation that is deemed 'damaging' could actually result in action taken against McDonald without waiting for a possible conviction. As it seems, if these finding are found to be verifiable in the League's eyes then San Francisco 49ers management would carry out possible termination of contract or suspension. Apparently, everyone including the NFL and the 49ers are waiting on the Santa Calra DA's investigation into the matter, which they stated had begun yesterday following a tweet on their twitter account. Mortensen's sources state the key will be the specificity of information released and how damning that information to be. At this time, there is no announcement from San Francisco that Ray McDonald will be punished or benched for the upcoming games. The very nature of this faux pas will most likely have a negative impact on the San Francisco locker-room and no fellow teammates have verbally outted McDonald either as of yet. While San Francisco has been playing great ball on the grid iron, this off the field issue could be building into a masthead in the coming weeks. That is a distraction a very disciplined and focused group of 49ers clearly want to avoid, but waiting on the issue to rear its ugly head further may backfire on San Francisco management of the domestic violence case.

References:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11605743/san-francisco-49ers-discipline-ray-mcdonald-charged?ex_cid=espnapi_public

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11630349/district-attorney-receives-case-ray-mcdonald-san-francisco-49ers

Photography/ Image Courtesy:

Ray McDonald:
 Derek Kaczmarczyk