The Dodgers pitcher has been on administrative leave since July 2 as MLB and police investigate the sexual assault allegations made against him.
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic accounts of domestic violence and sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault or domestic violence, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
Hours after L.A. Superior Court judge Dianna Gould-Saltman ruled to dissolve the temporary restraining order filed against Trevor Bauer, MLB and the MLBPA reportedly agreed to extend the Dodgers pitcher's administrative leave through Aug. 27, per MLB Network's Jon Heyman.
The 30-year-old has been on paid administrative leave since July 2 as the league and Pasadena police investigate the sexual assault allegations made against him.
A 27-year-old California woman, who was seeking a five-year restraining order against Bauer, alleges that he choked her unconscious with her own hair and penetrated her anally without consent in April. A similar incident happened again in May, when the woman said Bauer choked her unconscious and was repeatedly punching her in the head when she regained consciousness. She ended up in the hospital with severe trauma.
She filed a domestic violence ex parte restraining order against Bauer on June 28, and a few days later, MLB placed Bauer placed on an administrative leave that has continuously been extended. But on Thursday, the judge denied the temporary order, stating that the Dodgers pitcher is not a future threat to the California woman.
However, this does not mean what Bauer did was not a crime. During the hearings this week, his attorney acknowledged that he was violent and rendered the woman unconscious. His attorney Shawn Holley said in her closing argument that the woman wanted to be treated violently, and that's what Bauer did.
"He wraps her hair around her neck, she goes unconscious," Holley said in her closing argument Thursday, per Beyond the Box Score's Sheryl Ring.
Bauer's counsel released a statement from Holley and Jon Fetterolf to Sports Illustrated after the ruling, saying in part, "While we have expected this outcome since the petition was filed in June, we appreciate the Court reviewing all relevant information and testimony to make this informed decision."
Beyond the ongoing criminal investigation, MLB is looking into whether he violated its domestic violence policy by committing sexual assault, which the league defines as a range of nonconsensual sex acts and behaviors. "Lack of consent is inferred when ... the victim is asleep, incapacitated, unconscious or legally incapable of consent," per the league's policy.
In a closing statement before the judge ruled, Lisa Helfend Meyer, one of the woman's attorneys, said, "Whatever happens, [the woman] has revealed who Trevor Bauer truly is for all the world to see. Hopefully he will get help and not do this in the future under the guise of rough sex."
More on Trevor Bauer:
• Report: Ohio Woman Filed Previous Protection Order Against Trevor Bauer
• Woman Shares Her 'Brutal' Fear of Trevor Bauer During Day Two of Hearing
• Woman Concludes Bauer Testimony: ‘What Happened Was Not Consensual’