Foster charges dismissed
Judge drops domestic violence counts after accuser recanted; linebacker can rejoin 49ers today
SAN JOSE >> In a stunning turnaround to a case that nearly ended the budding career of 49ers star linebacker Reuben Foster, a judge on Wednesday dropped domestic violence charges against the football player after the woman who initially accused him of beating her testified that she lied.
The ruling vindicates the team’s decision to stand by one of its best players when many were calling for him to be released.
Foster — who has stayed away from the team since the charges were filed in April — can rejoin his teammates today, 49ers general manager John Lynch said in a statement after the judge’s decision.
“It has been made clear to Reuben that his place on this team is one that must continue to be earned,” said Lynch, adding that the team would continue to monitor a misdemeanor weapon charge still pending against Foster.
While Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Nona Klippen acknowledged that domestic violence victims often recant their accusations out of fear or retaliation, she did not believe that was the case with
Foster’s former girlfriend, Elissa Ennis.
“The credibility of Ms. Ennis is a critical factor in this case,” Klippen said, adding that the evidence did not support sending Foster to trial.
The judge also said she found no evidence that Ennis was coerced or compensated for retracting her statements. The injuries Ennis suffered, the judge said, could have happened during a fight she claims she had with another woman in San Francisco the night before Foster’s Feb. 11 arrest. Ennis provided a video purporting to depict that fight.
“The abrasions to the side of her face were consistent with the video she produced,” Klippen said, adding that police photographs of Ennis did not convince her that Foster hit her up to 10 times. “The injuries appear more consistent with a fight with another woman in the street than from this defendant punching her in the face.”
Foster smiled briefly as he left the Hall of Justice and gave a thumbs up sign but did not speak to reporters. He is set to return to court June 6 on an illegal weapon charge involving a SIG Sauer 516 shortbarreled rifle recovered at his home, which the judge reduced to a misdemeanor on the grounds it was legally purchased in Alabama and was not used threateningly.
A conviction on that charge likely would spur a fine, community service, or both, as well as surrendering the weapon.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said it was “disappointed” with Klippen’s decision and echoed earlier statements that it is not unusual for domesticviolence victims to recant.
“Some have wondered why we still think Mr. Foster hurt his girlfriend when she said she didn’t. Recantation is common among domestic-violence victims,” the office said in
a statement. “Whatever the cause, we move forward on cases when victims falsely recant because we know that if we don’t, more victims will be hurt. Our commitment to domestic-violence survivors is unwavering.”
Steven Clark, a criminal-defense
attorney and former county prosecutor, said Klippen deftly toed a line between projecting sympathy for domestic-violence cases and upholding strong evidence standards.
“What you saw was Judge Klippen saying not
just to Mr. Foster, but the entire community, we still believe domesticviolence victims in our courtroom,” Clark said. “But she said this case was unique.”
Klippen’s ruling comes after dramatic testimony May 17 in which Ennis described the domestic violence complaint against Foster as an extortion ploy she contrived after he broke up with her.
“It was all a money scheme. I didn’t want to get this far in the news,” Ennis told Klippen during the preliminary hearing.
That came off as authentic to Klippen, who also noted that Ennis recanted her accusations “at considerable peril to herself” and against her attorney’s legal advice.
“There’s a ring of truth to her testimony that she was really unhappy with this” breakup, she said.
In her initial account, Ennis told Los GatosMonte
Sereno police that Foster dragged her, threw her clothes out and “punched her in the head 8 to 10 times,” rupturing her eardrum, according to a police report.
During her testimony, Ennis steadfastly insisted that she fabricated the charges, but she struggled to recall particular events.
Foster pleaded not guilty May 8 to felony domestic violence, forcefully attempting to dissuade a witness and possession of an assault weapon, and invoked his right to a speedy trial.
The morning of the alleged beating, Ennis flagged down a passing motorist outside the Los Gatos home on Shannon Road she shared with Foster. The motorist testified that Ennis was calm and “she wasn’t panicking” when she asked to use his cellphone. In two separate 911 calls played during
the May 17 hearing, Ennis sounded frantic in one and calm in another.
Klippen wondered aloud Wednesday how Ennis could have regained her composure in the 10 minutes between the first 911 call, when she reported being hit, and the second call.
Ennis also testified that after Foster’s arrest, she went home to Louisiana with his jewelry and about $8,000 in cash. The cash was recovered, but Ennis said the jewelry is in a safe deposit box back home. She also admitted, under questioning from Foster’s attorney, Joshua Bentley, that she attempted to have a previous boyfriend arrested for domestic violence in 2011 in similar circumstances.
Clark called Wednesday’s result a convincing win for Foster.
“This could not have gone better for the Reuben Foster team,” he said.