Former 49ers Ray McDonald indicted on sex charges

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A Santa Clara County grand jury has indicted former 49ers player Ray McDonald on the alleged rape of an intoxicated woman.

The indictment stems from a Dec. 15, 2014 incident at the 30-year-old former professional football player's home.

The district attorney's office has also charged 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks with misdemeanor sexual battery. According to the district attorney's office, the separate assaults happened on the same evening to the same woman.

Attorney Gloria Allred is representing the alleged sex assault victim. "My client is very courageous. She is looking forward to a just outcome in this case," Allred said in statement.

Messages left for McDonald's attorney and Brooks' agent Wednesday weren't immediately returned.

The 49ers sent Brooks home from Colorado, where they are holding joint practices with the Broncos before playing a preseason game against Denver on Saturday night.

"The organization is aware that a misdemeanor charge has been filed against Ahmad Brooks stemming from a December 2014 matter. We take any charge against a member of this organization seriously and are in communication with the NFL," 49ers general manager Trent Baalke said in a statement released by the team.

In a civil lawsuit filed in May against both men, a woman accused Brooks of groping her while she was unconscious at McDonald's home.

The woman said she slipped and fell on a pool deck at McDonald's house in December 2014 and continued to fall after that due to her initial head injury and alcohol consumption. McDonald initially thought she was dead, but did not call 911, telling others he didn't want a dead female found on his property, according to the suit.

At some point, Brooks groped her before McDonald carried her upstairs to his bedroom and sexually assaulted her, the lawsuit claimed.

McDonald, an eight-year NFL veteran who turns 31 on Sept. 2, was indicted nearly a year after another incident while celebrating his 30th birthday.

Then, he and his pregnant fiance got into a fight after a woman attending the party told her some women were getting too friendly with McDonald. McDonald's fiance, who was sleeping upstairs, came down and confronted him, according to a prosecutors' office memo.

Following the arrest, 49ers CEO Jed York, Baalke and then-coach Jim Harbaugh repeatedly said they have zero tolerance for domestic violence, but rather than bench McDonald they agreed to let "due process" play out before making a decision about his future with the team.

In December, the Niners parted ways with McDonald, who had been a key member of one of the NFL's fiercest front seven units.

Brooks, 31, had his own problems last year and his status was uncertain going into the offseason, but had begun training camp with a new outlook and was back in shape thanks to a rigorous offseason routine.

He had started 60 straight games under fourth-year coach Harbaugh before being benched for a 24-13 loss at Oakland because he missed a team meeting. Brooks said after the game he inadvertently missed a morning defensive meeting Dec. 2 but showed up an hour later for a second meeting focused on domestic violence. Then defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Brooks also arrived 20 minutes late to a Dec. 3 meeting, and the coach didn't know why.

Brooks later apologized.

He also was benched Nov. 16 for the second half of a 16-10 road win against the Giants for heated words he directed at defensive line coach Jim Tomsula - now the Niners' head coach - in the second quarter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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