Warning: This story contains descriptions of violence.
LOS ANGELES – The attorney for Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer aggressively questioned his accuser in court here Tuesday, bringing up her sexual history with two other Major League Baseball players in an effort to have a restraining order against Bauer dissolved.
This was Day 2 of a civil hearing about whether the restraining order should remain in force against Bauer after his accuser requested it in June. The woman testified Monday that Bauer choked her unconscious during two sexual encounters at his home in Pasadena in April and May, and punched her face and vagina during the second encounter.
USA TODAY does not identify individuals who allege sexual crimes without their permission.
On Tuesday, Bauer’s attorney, Shawn Holley, brought up a series of text messages that Bauer’s legal team obtained from a male friend of the woman. In those messages, there are references to San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and pitcher Mike Clevinger.
Holley said she was not “slut-shaming (the accuser)” but had to ask the questions because they were relevant to the case in a family law court. “He (the friend) is referring to a sexual relationship you had with Fernando Tatis, is that right?"
After the accuser's attorney objected, Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltmann overruled the objection and said the woman could answer.
“Yes,” the woman said through tears as Bauer sat silently at the table of his legal team.
The accuser then confirmed that she had lost her job with the Pad Squad, a Padres ambassador program, because of it. She said her relationship with Tatis was in 2019, before she became sober in her battle against alcoholism.
Holley then asked if she considered her relationship with Tatis to be a dating relationship. The woman said no.
More:Day 1 of hearing: 'She was the perfect victim for someone like Trevor'
More:MLB extends Trevor Bauer's administrative leave again
After Holley brought up a reference to “Clev” in the text messages with her then-friend, she asked the woman whether that was Clevinger. The woman said she didn’t want to answer and fought back tears. “He doesn’t need to be brought into this,” she said. After being instructed by the judge to answer the question, the woman said it was and confirmed she had a sexual relationship with Clevinger in October 2020, after she became sober.
“I’m doing my job and not trying to embarrass you,” Holley said. “I’m not, but you spoke a lot about not knowing how to do sober sex, so that’s why I’m asking these questions.” The woman had testified Monday about her issues with alcoholism and said she has been sober for more than a year and a half.
Holley’s questioning appeared to tie in with Bauer’s legal strategy of minimizing the accuser's relationship with Bauer. They have argued the woman did not have a “dating relationship” with Bauer, and therefore he should not be subject to this domestic violence restraining order in family court.
“Petitioner and Respondent (Bauer) did not have a 'dating relationship’ as required for a domestic violence restraining order,” Bauer’s attorneys wrote in a court filing. “The California Legislature tailored domestic violence proceedings to apply only to certain intimate relationships. The two sexual encounters between Petitioner and Respondent over less than a month do not satisfy the statutory requirement for such relationships.”
Whether Bauer criminally assaulted the woman is not for this court to decide. After hearing the evidence this week, the judge in this case will decide the issue at hand – whether the restraining order will remain in force.
Bauer, who signed a three-year, $102 million contract with the Dodgers in February, has been on paid leave from the team since July 2. He has not been arrested or charged while Pasadena police and MLB have investigated the matter. His representatives said the encounters were “wholly consensual” and said the accuser was looking to gain a monetary settlement. They also have cited text messages from the woman to Bauer in which she appeared to ask for rough sex, including being choked out.
Holley went through many of those messages Tuesday in court, including one thread in which the accuser wrote “give me all the pain” after her first encounter with Bauer and said she had never been that turned on in her life. Holley suggested the woman had omitted critical information in her application for a restraining order in June, including those messages.
"Did you not think it was of critical importance to tell the judge that you asked for it?" Holley asked her, meaning that the woman had asked Bauer for rough sex.
"I didn’t ask to be punched over all my body to the point where I had to be hospitalized," she answered.
Holley objected to that answer as being nonresponsive and asked that it be struck from the court record. The judge agreed.
Under questioning earlier Tuesday from her own attorney, Lisa Helfend Meyer, the accuser addressed a certain message she sent to her cousin in May about her second encounter. That message read: "It was consensual but like didnt expect two black eyes!? Like he def took it too far dont you think lol."
On Tuesday, she testified she was in shock at the time and that the encounter began as consensual but went too far. "I lost any chance of giving consent after the first time he choked me" and went unconscious during the second encounter, she said.
After she went to a hospital due to her injuries in May, she testified that she talked to Bauer on the phone. According to her, Bauer said, "I'm sorry. It will never happen again."
The accuser also addressed why she waited about 45 days to get a temporary restraining order against Bauer after that encounter in May. She said she was told by Pasadena police that they were going to arrest Bauer, but when they did not, she "had to get protection" in the meantime.
The accuser has testified over the course of two days and apparently is not finished as the hearing continues this week.
The only other witness who has testified is a forensic nurse examiner from San Diego County who took the stand Tuesday afternoon. Under questioning from the accuser's attorney, the nurse said she performed a sexual assault examination on the accuser in May after her second encounter with Bauer.
The nurse noted the woman's facial injuries, her "racoon eyes," bruised buttocks and a "significant amount of bruising" on the woman's genitals.
"It was frankly alarming," the nurse said of the latter injury.
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