Charge against pitcher dismissed

An assault and battery charge against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers was dismissed yesterday after his wife said she did not want Myers prosecuted on charges of hitting her in the face on a Boston street.

Prosecutors and groups against domestic violence objected to the decision by Boston Municipal Court Judge Raymond G. Dougan Jr., saying it sent the wrong message, especially during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley issued a statement expressing his deep disappointment with the judge's decision to ``use his discretionary authority to simultaneously affirm that a man beat his wife on a public street and deny our efforts to hold him responsible."

Brett and Kim Myers declined to comment after the hearing, as they were trailed by television camera crews, but the pitcher's lawyer, Carlos Dominguez, told reporters that the judge did ``the right thing."

Dougan said he did not believe that Kim Myers was coerced into asking for the charges to be dropped and said that domestic violence allegations are difficult for prosecutors to prove because they involve private relationships.

Brett Myers, 26, and the Phillies were in Boston in June for a three-game series with the Red Sox. While walking to their hotel from a Back Bay bar just after midnight on June 23, Myers and his wife argued because she wanted to stay at the bar and he did not.

Two witnesses told police that Myers, a broad-shouldered man with a 6-foot-4-inch frame, dragged his wife by the hair, slapped her across the face, and left her sitting on a sidewalk. A report said police found Kim Myers, 29, crying and with a slight swelling on the left side of her face.

One witness said she yelled, ``I'm not going to let you do this to me anymore."

She later posted his $200 bail. In court yesterday, Kim Myers agreed to an ``accord and satisfaction," in which the judge can dismiss misdemeanor charges over prosecutors' objections if the victim is satisfied without prosecution.

She told the judge that she and her husband had been drinking heavily that night and that she was not harmed or injured. She added that the case has generated excessive media coverage, which could compromise the safety of the couple's two young children.

``He's a loving father," she said. ``He's a loving husband, and this is not something that happens on a daily basis, or ever."

Brett Myers, dressed in a dark brown three-piece suit, appeared calm throughout the proceedings, often chatting with his wife and lawyers as they waited for the case to be called. Several court officers shook his hand, and one wished him good luck. When standing before the judge, Myers shifted his weight from side to side and tightly clasped his hands. He did not speak during the hearing.

The couple's lawyers said Myers has no prior criminal history and had begun marriage counseling, which Kim Myers said has strengthened their relationship.

But Assistant District Attorney Susan Terrey urged that Myers plead guilty to assault and battery, receive two years of probation, and be required to participate in programs for spousal and alcohol abusers.

``In using the `accord and satisfaction' statute to let Brett Myers off the hook, the judge sent a message that abusers can use a statute intended for minor altercations to avoid being held responsible for serious domestic violence charges," Conley said in a later statement.

Toni K. Troop -- director of development and public relations at Jane Doe Inc., a statewide coalition against sexual assault and domestic violence -- said that ``marriage counseling can at times be a very helpful step for couples to take."

But in domestic violence cases, such counseling may ``reinforce that this is a problem between the two of them, in his decision to hit his wife and push her to the ground," Troop said.

``Celebrity status along with economic advantage are often factors that offenders can count on as assisting them in evading responsibility through the courts," she added.