LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A lawyer for a woman who is seeking a five-year extension of a temporary restraining order against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer told a judge Monday that what began as consensual sex twice developed into violent behavior on his part that left her client with welts and bruises as well as rectal bleeding.
Attorney Lisa Helfend Meyer gave her opening statement to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman, who will have the ultimate say on whether Bauer's accuser is entitled to additional protection. Helfend Meyer said Bauer's accuser is a recovering alcoholic who was vulnerable and drawn to the baseball player by his own life experiences, including being bullied as a child.
"She was the perfect victim for someone like Trevor," Helfend Meyer said.
However, Bauer's lawyer, Shawn Holley, said the woman's electronic messages show she never complained about rough sex after the first experience and instead appeared to look forward to more before their second encounter in May, with both occurring at Bauer's Pasadena home.
"I want more of this, I've never been more turned on," the woman told Bauer, according to Holley, who said the woman only objected to Bauer putting his fingers down her throat.
Bauer's accuser was the first witness in the case, telling the judge she wanted to date Bauer from the time he was in spring training, when she was intrigued by the way he closed one eye when he pitched.
The woman, now 27, said she was an alcoholic from age 15 to age 25. She said she was hospitalized during that period eight to 10 times.
Asked by Helfend Meyer how she was able to stop drinking, the woman said, "It became a life or death thing for me."
Bauer, 30, showed no reaction as he listened to her testimony.
In late June, Bauer's accuser filed court papers seeking a restraining order, claiming he physically assaulted her during a pair of sexual encounters. She alleges Bauer repeatedly choked her to unconsciousness and punched her in the face.
In her court papers, the accuser claimed Bauer choked her lightly at first during an April 21 encounter, then put his fingers down her throat, and wrapped her hair around her neck and choked her to unconsciousness.
"She felt nauseous and was very troubled by what happened," Helfend Meyer told the judge, adding that the woman found herself bleeding from her anus.
Bauer's accuser testified that during a subsequent encounter on May 15, Bauer again choked her unconscious, and she awoke to him repeatedly punching her in the head, saying she could feel his knuckles as he struck her in both cheekbones.
"I went into shock," the woman said. "I couldn't fight back."
Asked by Helfend Meyer why she did not tell Bauer to stop, the woman said, "I couldn't physically get a word out."
She said Bauer subsequently punched her private parts three times.
"It was so painful," she testified, adding that Bauer saw welts on her body when the two showered together later to help her clean up and said he needed to be more careful next time.
The woman acknowledged she told Bauer in between their sexual encounters that it was OK for him to be a little rough, but that she did not really mean it.
"I was going with the flow of what he wanted to do," she said.
The woman said she was helped on how to respond to Bauer by friends giving her a birthday party at the same time she and the pitcher were exchanging messages.
"I didn't know a lot about rough sex or what to say," she said.
The woman testified she blamed herself in part for the way things turned out after each incident, but that she no longer feels that way.
She said she was examined at two hospitals and eventually took part in a recorded telephone conversation with Bauer as part of a Pasadena police investigation.
Bauer later told his accuser, "I feel so bad this happened... I would never do anything to hurt you," Helfend Meyer told the judge.
The woman never again believed a word he said, according to Helfend Meyer.
Bauer's agent, Jon Fetterolf, issued a statement in June blasting the woman's allegations as baseless and defamatory, saying the pitcher "had a brief and wholly consensual sexual relationship initiated by (the accuser) beginning in April 2021."
"We have messages that show (the accuser) repeatedly asking for `rough' sexual encounters involving requests to be `choked out' and slapped in the face," Fetterolf said then. "In both of their encounters, (the accuser) drove from San Diego to Mr. Bauer's residence in Pasadena, where she went on to dictate what she wanted from him sexually and he did what was asked.
"Following each of her only two meetings with Mr. Bauer, (the accuser) spent the night and left without incident, continuing to message Mr. Bauer with friendly and flirtatious banter. In the days following their second and final encounter, (the accuser) shared photos of herself and indicated she had sought medical care for a concussion. Mr. Bauer responded with concern and confusion, and (the accuser) was neither angry nor accusatory.
"Mr. Bauer and (the accuser) have not corresponded in over a month and have not seen each other in over six weeks. Her basis for filing a protection order is nonexistent, fraudulent and deliberately omits key facts, information and her own relevant communications. Any allegations that the pair's encounters were not 100% consensual are baseless, defamatory and will be refuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Lt. Bill Grisafe of the Pasadena Police Department confirmed the agency was investigating allegations against Bauer, but said he could not provide any additional details.
Bauer signed a three-year contract with the Dodgers on Feb. 11 worth $102 million, including $40 million this season, reported to be the highest single-season salary in baseball history. He has been placed on administrative leave through at least Aug. 20 by Major League Baseball and the Players Association.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported Saturday that Bauer was the subject of a temporary order of protection last year for allegedly physically abusing an Ohio woman and making a death threat toward her.
The newspaper said it obtained sealed court records and other documentation in which the woman alleges Bauer punched and choked her without her consent while they were having sex. He also allegedly sent her a text message saying he doesn't "feel like spending time in jail for killing someone."
The Ohio order was part of an "ex parte," proceeding, meaning it was issued without a hearing from the other side.
It was not clear whether the alleged incident was investigated by police.
Bauer responded with a tweet Saturday, saying that "while I have allowed my representatives to speak on my behalf over the last six weeks, I can no longer be silent. I will speak very candidly about the current petition when appropriate, but need to address the allegations made today in The Washington Post.
"The Washington Post has spent the last six weeks digging into my life and attempting to contact hundreds of female friends and acquaintances with whom they suspect I had some form of romantic relations -- some of whom I haven't had contact with in over a decade -- in an effort to create a false narrative.
"Several of these individuals have sent me screenshots of their requests, many shared that they had only positive things to say, and others felt very uncomfortable or harassed by the nature of their requests.
"Despite my representatives providing a wealth of contradictory evidence, documents, statements, and background information showing the pattern of disturbing behavior by this woman and her attorneys, The Washington Post opted to ignore much of this information and to run a salacious story disseminating defamatory statements, false information, and baseless allegations from a woman who has not only harassed and physically assaulted me but who also attempted to extort me for millions of dollars last year in exchange for her not coming forward with these false claims," Bauer wrote.
Fetterolf and Bauer's co-agent, Rachel Luba, released a statement saying Bauer and the woman were in a consensual relationship from 2016 to 2019, and that she had filed a "bogus protection petition" while "demanding $3.4 million for her to `remain silent.'"
The agents also told The Post the physical abuse allegations were "categorically false" and questioned the validity of photographs reviewed by the newspaper showing bruises on her face and blood in her eyes, as well as the alleged threatening messages.
Bauer pitched for the Cleveland Indians from 2013-19, and for the Cincinnati Reds from 2019-20.
"You may not like this, and as a female it was a tough reality I had to accept, but this is not uncommon when it comes to celebrities -- this is yet another example of how people abuse the temporary DVRO process in hopes of gaining publicity/money," Luba tweeted Saturday.
The Dodgers declined to comment on the latest accusations.
