Grueling 12-hour testimony from Trevor Bauer's sexual assault accuser comes to a close
At the end of 12 hours of grueling, often emotional testimony from the woman accusing Trevor Bauer of sexual assault, she reminded the court Wednesday of the central reason behind her request for a restraining order against the Dodgers pitcher.
“I did not consent to bruises all over my body that sent me to the hospital and having that done to me while I was unconscious,” she testified.
The hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court is to determine whether a temporary restraining order against Bauer should be extended to the full five years allowed under state law. Yet, it has unfolded as a de facto trial with both sides represented by high-powered law firms presenting mountains of evidence.
Attorneys on both sides told Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman at the end of the day Wednesday that the case should be completed Thursday. Marc Garelick, one of the accuser's attorneys, said Bauer will be called to testify, but his attorney, Shawn Holley, said the pitcher plans to invoke his 5th Amendment rights and decline to answer questions to avoid self-incrimination.
In a July court appearance, the woman's attorneys estimated her testimony would take about two hours. Instead, she testified for six hours Monday, three hours Tuesday and nearly all morning Wednesday, walking the court through her intimate encounters with Bauer on April 21 and May 16 and the medical care she received after the second encounter.
The cross-examination by Holley dissected reams of Instagram direct messages and phone text messages from the accuser to four people: Bauer, the woman’s male cousin, her best friend, and her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor.
Holley attempted to establish that the messages provided evidence of the woman’s state of mind, her activities and whether she should be granted a restraining order. The woman was asked to explain numerous inconsistencies and messages that appeared to ridicule Bauer.
She was asked about a text to her AA sponsor after she had been granted the temporary restraining order in which she said Bauer could slap her in the vagina if he gave her $50 million.
After reading the text aloud, Holley asked the woman, “It’d all be OK if he gave you 50 million dollars, right?” The woman sat back and replied, “Not necessarily.”
She was asked why she took a selfie of her face while Bauer was in the shower moments after their second encounter then joined him in the shower. The photograph was used as evidence of her facial injuries.
She was asked why the photo she sent to Bauer from the hospital after she sought medical assistance did not show the side of her face that she alleges he scratched.
She was asked why there are no records of text messages to and from her best friend and her AA sponsor from May 18-29.
Her answers were mostly short and noncommittal.
Later she was asked about a recent text exchange in which her sponsor warned her against posting a photo of her looking happy, saying, “Please don’t post ... You are supposed to be struggling mentally, not posting. That would be a terrible mistake. I know you want to, but it’s terrible for your case.”
The accuser’s text response thanked her sponsor for the advice and ended with the phrase “secure the bag.” Holley asked her if the meaning of that term means “get the money,” and the woman responded, “I’m not sure.”
After the cross-examination, Doreen Olson, one of the woman’s attorneys, returned to the central point of the hearing, asking the woman why she is asking for a restraining order.
“What happened was not consensual,” the woman testified. “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 witnesses were called Wednesday afternoon, one by each side. Holley called pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers, who downplayed the accuser’s facial injuries after reviewing her 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.”
Garelick called the accuser's best friend and work associate. The accuser went to her house in San Diego after driving back from Bauer's Pasadena home May 17, the morning after the second encounter.
The friend testified that the woman had two black eyes, bruises behind her ears, a swollen lip and cheekbones, and scratches on the side of her face.
"All she wanted to do was lay in bed at my house," the friend said. "She said she'd thrown up, her head hurt, she couldn’t open her jaw, she could barely talk."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
