SAN JOSE, Calif. _ The domestic violence case against 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster will not go to trial, Santa Clara County Judge Nona Klippen announced Wednesday afternoon.
Klippen dismissed two charges against Foster, domestic violence with an allegation that he inflicted great bodily injury and forcefully attempting to prevent a victim from reporting a crime. The charge of possession of an assault weapon was reduced to a misdemeanor.
Last week, Foster's ex-girlfriend, Elissa Ennis, testified for two hours, saying multiple times that Foster didn't hit her and that she concocted the first story she told police because she was furious that he was going to end their relationship.
"I wanted him to go down," she said. "I was pissed."
Ennis said it was all a money scheme geared toward suing Foster, whom she started dating when he was at Alabama. She also admitted to falsely accusing another ex-boyfriend of domestic violence as well as stealing Foster's money, his designer clothing and jewelry _ including more than $8,000 in cash and two Rolex watches _ when she left his Los Gatos home and went back to her mother's home in Louisiana. She has since returned the money but still has the jewelry, she said.
The injuries that had police concerned when they arrived at Foster's home on Feb. 11, she said, were instead suffered during a road-rage inspired fight with another woman in San Francisco one day earlier.
Neither the district attorney's office nor police seem to believe that story.
While there's a 22-second video clip of Ennis brawling with a woman, the original video, which appeared on Instagram, has been taken down. Therefore it's impossible to tell when and where it was taken.
In addition, when she first recanted two days after the incident, Ennis told police she had gotten in a fight with a woman outside a bar in the Union Square area of San Francisco and not Pier 39, which is where she said she was heading when the road-rage fight began.
While the rest of the 49ers began OTA practices this week, Foster has stayed away from the team facility while the case is ongoing. The 49ers have said that he would be cut if he is guilty of hitting a woman. He presumably would be allowed back if that charge goes away.
Teammates Adrian Colbert and Jaquiski Tartt arrived to court with Foster on Wednesday in a show of support.
Foster also is facing a misdemeanor marijuana charge in Alabama. His next court date there is June 20.
