GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Packers running back Josh Jacobs was charged Thursday with misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal damage to property, according to Wisconsin court records.
The formal charges came more than three months after he was arrested following a domestic situation at his home near Green Bay.
"Our office sought to ensure a fair and complete review of available evidence, some of which only recently became available to our office due to significant, ongoing forensic efforts by law enforcement," Brown County District Attorney David L. Lasee said in a statement. "A criminal complaint is nothing more than a written, formal accusation against a defendant alleging the commission of criminal offenses and does not raise any inference of guilt. Mr. Jacobs is presumed innocent of these charges. As this is an ongoing criminal case, and out of respect for the rights of all parties, our office will not have further comment on the matter at this time."
Jacobs is subject to a suspension by the NFL, which is conducting its own investigation. It's up the NFL to decide whether to suspend Jacobs to start this season or wait until the legal process is completed.
"We have been closely monitoring all developments in the matter which remains under review," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Thursday.
Jacobs is scheduled for an initial court appearance on Nov. 17.
Jacobs was originally arrested on May 26 and booked by the Hobart-Lawrence (Wisconsin) Police Department on counts of battery (domestic abuse, criminal damage to property), domestic abuse, disorderly conduct (domestic abuse, strangulation and suffocation), and intimidation of a victim. The strangulation and suffocation charge was a felony, and the other four charges were misdemeanors.
The charges stemmed from a May 23 incident in which police were called to a residence.
Jacobs spent a night in jail and was released a day later, pending further investigation by the Brown County District Attorney's office. At the time, the DA's office said the investigation "remains open and ongoing."
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst will consider keeping an extra running back if he thinks Jacobs could miss the start of the season, which begins on Sept. 13 at the Minnesota Vikings. In addition to Jacobs, the Packers planned to keep MarShawn Lloyd and Chris Brooks as backup running backs. Pierre Strong Jr. likely would be the fourth running back.
"We'll deal with that if that transpires but we could," Gutekunst said Wednesday. "You're always usually going to keep three or four running backs, and I think we have enough to do that. But again it comes down to choices and trying to figure that out. The one thing, particularly at that position, is elevating a guy from the practice squad -- I don't want to say it's easy to do but it's something we've done in the past and not something we'd shy away from."