The woman seeking a five-year restraining order against the pitcher said she knew she'd be "slut-shamed, but it was worth it for me to get protection."
Editor’s note: This story contains graphic accounts of domestic violence, threats 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.
The 27-year-old San Diego woman seeking a five-year restraining order against Trevor Bauer told the judge Wednesday that she knew she would be "slut-shamed" for filing the ex parte restraining order against the Dodgers pitcher.
"Rough sex doesn't mean a concussion," she said, per The Insider. "It felt good to see that I wasn't getting slut-shamed right off the bat—that people could see it for what it was."
In a statement released June 29, Bauer's agent Jon Fetterolf said, "Mr. Bauer had a brief and wholly consensual sexual relationship initiated by [the woman] beginning in April 2021. We have messages that show [the woman] repeatedly asking for 'rough' sexual encounters involving requests to be 'choked out' and slapped in the face." He added the woman drove to Bauer's residence and proceeded to "dictate what she wanted from him sexually and he did what was asked."
The woman spent 12 hours on the stand over the first three days of the hearing to lay out her reasoning for seeking the protection order.
"I did not consent to bruising all over my body and going to the hospital," she said Wednesday, "and having things done to me while I was unconscious."
Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports
The California woman alleges the pitcher choked her unconscious and penetrated her anally without consent in April. A similar incident allegedly 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, Bauer was put on administrative leave that has continuously been extended. Now, the hearing is determining whether the restraining order should be extended to the full five years allowed under state law.
The cross-examination by Bauer's attorney, Shawn Holley, picked up where it left off on Tuesday, meticulously examining Instagram direct messages and text messages. At one point, Holley asked the woman why she felt she needed the order when he had made no contact with her in almost a month by the time it was filed.
"That was what worried me," the woman replied. Bauer had been checking in on her the days following the second incident. Holley then asked, "Did you have some reason to believe he was going to come to your house 130 miles away?"
"Yes, I did," she said.
Bauer's accuser returned to the matter of consent before leaving the stand.
“What happened was not consensual,” the woman testified, per the Los Angeles Times. “If they were going to put out their side of the story, it was fair to me to show that it was far beyond [consensual] choking.
“I knew I would be slut-shamed, but it was worth it for me to get protection from Trevor Bauer.”
Two additional witness were called, one by each legal team. Bauer's attorney called pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers, who commented on the woman's facial injuries after reviewing the medical reports.
"[The woman] described forceful punches with a closed fist [to her face]. My expectation would have been that I and the people who examined her would have seen more extensive injuries on the skin.
"[She] also described forceful punching in her genital region, which based off my review was a bruise high up in the pubic region, which is actually above the genitalia, and there is no pattern to that injury,” Dr. Hammers said per the Los Angeles Times.
The woman's attorney called the petitioner's best friend and work associate, whose house the accuser drove to the morning after the second incident. The friend testified that the woman had two black eyes and scratches on the side of her face. She added all the woman "wanted to do was lay in bed."
This is not the first potential restraining order Bauer has faced. An Ohio woman, who alleged that he punched and choked her without consent while they were having sex, requested a temporary order against him in June 2020, per The Washington Post. It came out of an ex parte proceeding, and she did so because of threatening messages he had allegedly sent her.
"I don't feel like spending time in jail for killing someone," one message read, according to The Post. "And that's what would happen if I saw you again."
The Ohio woman later voluntarily dropped the order against Bauer.
The Dodgers pitcher is slated to be the last witness to be called by his accuser. That testimony is set to take place Thursday morning. Bauer plans to invoke the Fifth Amendment, per his attorney, but Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman said she will give her decision on the matter in the morning.