Angel Villalona is out of jail yet still facing murder charges in the Dominican Republic after paying the family of the man he allegedly killed $55,000 of an approx. $140,000 settlement, prosecutor Jose Antonio Polanco told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Polanco said Villalona, one of the Giants' top prospects, is expected to pay another $83,000 to the family of Mario Felix de Jesus Velete.

"The family ... has behaved in an embarrassing manner because they now say that Villalona is not even the person involved in the death," he said. "But the prosecution ... will continue to pursue this case."

Polanco added that the case is expected to be heard in about a month.

Villalona allegedly shot Velete in a bar on Sept. 19. He could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. A conviction, though, could be incredibly difficult to attain without the family's cooperation, particularly if more of Villalona's original $2.1 million signing bonus finds its way into the right hands.

While Villalona may well succeed in making the murder charges go away, one can hope it won't be so easy for him to get a visa to play professionally in the United States next year. It'd be disgusting to see him resume his baseball career as though nothing ever happened.