Editor's note: The above video is general manager Trent Baalke issuing a statement on the release of former 49er lineman Ray McDonald in Dec. 2014.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -– The 49ers announced Wednesday that outside linebacker Ahmad Brooks is being sent back to California and will not participate in Saturday’s exhibition game against the Denver Broncos after the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office charged him with misdemeanor sexual battery.
Brooks, 31, faces a maximum of six months in jail. He will be arraigned at a later date, according to the District Attorney's office. His future with the 49ers appears to be in question.
“The organization is aware that a misdemeanor charge has been filed against Ahmad Brooks stemming from a December 2014 matter,” 49ers general manager Trent Baalke said in a statement. “We take any charge against a member of this organization seriously and are in communication with the NFL. Ahmad is returning home to California and will not participate in Saturday’s game.”
[MAIOCCO: 49ers LB Brooks accused in sexual assault lawsuit]
The Santa Clara County Grand Jury also indicted former 49ers player Ray McDonald on one count of rape of an intoxicated person from an alleged incident on Dec. 15 at McDonald’s home, the District Attorney's office announced. The law prohibits sexual intercourse with a person who is too intoxicated to consent.
The alleged separate assaults of which Brooks and McDonald are accused happened on the same evening, according to the DA’s office.
In May, the alleged victim filed a civil lawsuit that claimed surveillance video at McDonald’s house showed, “While she was unconscious from a subsequent fall, Brooks groped her person in a sexual manner."
Brooks participated in Wednesday’s practice at the Denver Broncos’ practice facility before the charge was announced.
McDonald is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 25 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. He faces a maximum of eight years in prison. The 49ers immediately released McDonald after the December incident. After San Jose Police announced McDonald as the target of the investigation, the Baalke cited a pattern of poor decision-making as the reason behind cutting ties with McDonald.
The Chicago Bears signed McDonald in March after his agent, Tom Condon, informed teams his client would not face charges stemming from the December incident, the NFL Network reported at the time.
The grand jury also indicted McDonald for a May 27 violation of the court’s domestic violence restraining order, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
[MAIOCCO: No charges levied against 49ers' Brooks]
The grand jury declined to indict McDonald on felony false imprisonment and other domestic violence misdemeanor charges stemming from a May 25 incident with another woman. The DA’s office stated it plans to dismiss that criminal complaint. The Bears released McDonald after that arrest in Santa Clara.
Brooks, an eight-year NFL veteran, entered the NFL via the supplemental draft in 2006 after he was kicked off the Virginia football team at the end of the 2005 season. He entered the league with the Cincinnati Bengals. In 2008, he was accused of punching a woman in the face and accepted mediation on the charges.
In July 2013, the Santa Clara County DA's office announced Brooks would not face criminal charges stemming from an alleged assault of teammate Lamar Divens due to insufficient evidence.
