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Dodgers pitcher Vicente Padilla will not be charged in domestic violence case

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, Reporting from Denver -- Dodgers pitcher Vicente Padilla was cleared of a domestic violence allegation after Denver police investigated an early-morning incident at the club hotel, Det. Leslie Branch-Wise said Saturday.

Padilla was not arrested and will not be charged, she said.

“There is no evidence to support any criminal charges,” Branch-Wise said.

Police declined to release the investigative report Saturday or provide details. David Lane, the attorney for Padilla, said a female friend claimed Padilla had slapped her in the face.

Denver police were called to the Ritz-Carlton hotel at 3:51 a.m., Branch-Wise said. According to Lane, Padilla and the woman had returned to the hotel from a club, where the two had a “verbal exchange” involving what he called “allegations of jealousy” over the attention he had gotten from other women at the club.

“Jealousy, in the sense that was her motivation for calling the police,” Lane said.

Lane said the woman recanted the allegation that Padilla slapped her during interviews with him and with police.

“Mr. Padilla has denied from the first moment he laid a finger on this woman,” Lane said.

Lane, a high-powered Denver attorney who last year represented the parents of the so-called “Balloon Boy,” said he was contacted by Major League Baseball officials about 5:30 a.m. Denver police would not release the name of the woman or say whether she had an attorney.

Padilla is not married. Lane said the woman had flown here from out of state.

The Dodgers said they were aware of the situation and looking into it but had no further comment, spokesman Josh Rawitch said.

“No charges were filed, so there is nothing I can say,” Manager Joe Torre said.

Padilla reported to Coors Field as scheduled, throwing a three-inning simulated game Saturday afternoon. He left the ballpark before the clubhouse opened to reporters.

“I did not talk to him about anything other than baseball,” Torre said.

Padilla, 32, the Dodgers’ opening-day starter, is 1-1 with a 6.65 earned-run average.

The Dodgers signed Padilla last winter, in need of a veteran starter after they decided they could not afford Randy Wolf. The signing came after Padilla had been injured in a shooting accident in his native Nicaragua, in which he said a friend was trying to fix his gun and inadvertently shot him in the thigh.

Denver police announced that Padilla had been cleared at an afternoon news conference, during which Branch-Wise said police had not found evidence of a crime.

“We wanted you all to know that we take all allegations very seriously, no matter who is making the allegation,” Branch-Wise said. “The crime [of domestic violence] is serious. We conducted a thorough investigation.”

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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