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ramBRO
Well, according to the article, she recanted the story a few days after the alleged incident but the DA decided to file charges regardless. So, they either felt that: A) there was enough evidence to convict him without her testimony; and/or, B ) the DA's office felt that they could not decline to file charges considering several other recent hi-profile cases occurring throughout the country. but it's unclear if they entertained the thought of her testifying on his behalf, though.
As for whether or not it is illegal to lie about domestic abuse...filing a false police report is a misdemeanor. But I don't know if the DA would ever consider filing against her. That might be seen as a discouragement to reporting domestic abuse.
It's not unusual for the abused party to want to "drop charges" or recant a few days after the incident. What abused parties don't realize is they are just a witness, the crime is against the state, and the witness cannot drop the charges. The evidence gathered at the time of the report will play a large role. Additionally, the girlfriend is going to have to provide a verifiable motive for having given a false report, and a verifiable motive for recanting it a few days later for anyone to give any serious thought to the idea that she's telling the truth (there must be another crime scene, witnesses, the person she was in a fight with, motive for the fight, etc., etc.).
If they were able to verify she gave a false report (which is not what happened, just saying) they should absolutely prosecute her for giving a false report to the full extent of the law. I certainly hope that the assertion that it is "unlikely" they would prosecute her is false since in Santa Clara County a man can, and most likely will be arrested on the word of a woman that she was assaulted by a man even if there is zero evidence to corroborate the accusation (if said incident just happened and is not something that took place sometime prior to the report...in the legal since of time). For it to be the easy to be arrested there must be a penalty for making a false accusation, to let people off for doing so sends the wrong message and creates many, many problems.
