District Attorney’s Memo Details Cop’s Role In Ray McDonald Case

Oct 5, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Ray McDonald (91) during the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Levi's Stadium. The 49ers defeated the Chiefs 22-17. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

How big a role did the actions of a San Jose cop who also worked for the San Francisco 49ers play in the dismissal of a complaint against Ray McDonald?

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office announced Monday it will not file charges against San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Ray McDonald on allegations of domestic violence.

A memo released by the DA’s office detailed the role of San Jose Police Department Sgt. Sean Pritchard in the events at McDonald’s birthday party in August and it became apparent that the role of the police officer who moonlighted with the 49ers as a security guard played a large part in that decision not to prosecute.

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Deadspin.com published excerpts of the memo obtained by The Associated Press that show that Pritchard made multiple visits to McDonald’s residence the night of the incident.

A reading of those excerpts makes it fairly clear that attempting to get a conviction would have been an exercise in futility since Pritchard created all sorts of reasonable doubt for a potential jury.

McDonald called the 49ers’ director of security, who got him in contact with Pritchard the night of the incident. The player was concerned about text messages from “females he met the night before,” according to the memo.

"McDonald told Sgt. Pritchard he was afraid the women would show up at his home and cause problems. At one point he told Sgt. Pritchard he was afraid the women had actually shown up because one of them sent him a text describing what he was wearing. Sgt. Pritchard said he responded to McDonald’s residence two separate times to address this issue."

The actual allegations of domestic violence took place later, in the early morning hours, when a party guest woke up McDonald’s fiancee to “warn her that some women were getting too friendly” with McDonald.

The fiancee went downstairs, saw a woman talking to McDonald. Eventually, McDonald followed his fiancee upstairs, where the fight ensued.

At that point, McDonald called Pritchard again.

"McDonald called Sgt. Pritchard at 2:39 a.m. and said “I need to get this female out of my house.”"

The memo indicates Pritchard was on duty the first two times he went to McDonald’s house. He was in uniform, but it’s “not clear” whether or not the officer was actually still on duty for the third visit.

We know that something happened that night, but we also know that the fact Pritchard was, as the memo claims, “working for the 49ers while being paid by the citizens of San Jose” was going to be problematic for the prosecutors.

If nothing else, the entire McDonald affair proves that if you work somewhere with cops on the payroll, why not take advantage of it?

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