Dodgers’ Trevor Bauer will not be charged over sexual assault allegations
Los Angeles prosecutors won’t charge Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer for allegedly beating and sexually abusing a San Diego woman he met through social media.
Prosecutors were unable to prove the San Diego woman’s accusations beyond a reasonable doubt, according to the Los Angeles district attorney’s office on Tuesday.
Bauer, 31, was placed on paid leave in July under the players’ union and Major League Baseball’s joint domestic violence and sexual assault policy. The woman alleged he choked her into unconsciousness, punched her repeatedly and had sex with her without her consent during two encounters. MLB and the union eventually agreed to extend his administrative leave through the end of the postseason.
MLB and the Pasadena Police Department both launched investigations. Police turned over the results of their investigation to the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office in August.
Bauer has said through representatives that everything that happened between the two was “wholly consensual” in the nights they spent together in April and May at his Pasadena home.
Regardless of what happens in the legal case, Bauer could face a potential suspension by MLB of any length it chooses.
“MLB’s investigation is ongoing, and we will comment further at the appropriate time,” the league said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Dodgers have said they will not comment until the league’s investigation concludes.
The allegations against Bauer first surfaced publicly during the summer when the woman sought a protection order against the Dodgers star. The woman said in court documents seeking the order that she and Bauer met on Instagram.
She later visited his home and had sexual encounters that began as consensual but grew violent without her consent, the documents said. The second incident in which she alleges Bauer repeatedly punched her left her with two black eyes, a bloodied swollen lip, significant bruising and scratching to one side of her face, according to the documents. She included photographs showing the injuries.
The 27-year-old woman also testified extensively about the encounters during a four-day hearing but her request for a restraining order was denied by Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman of Los Angeles superior court. The judge found that Bauer honored the woman’s boundaries when the woman set them, and could not have known about those he violated because she didn’t express them clearly.
The judge noted that in the woman’s communications with Bauer, the woman “was not ambiguous about wanting rough sex in the parties’ first encounter, and wanting rougher sex in the second encounter.”
The judge added: “We consider in a sexual encounter that when a woman says no she should be believed, so what should we do when she says yes?”
Bauer, the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner, joined his hometown Dodgers in February 2021 on a $102 million, three-year contract. He had a record of 8-2 and a 2.59 ERA in 17 appearances before being placed on leave.
It’s possible Bauer would contest any discipline handed down by MLB in an attempt to salvage his career and salary. Of the 13 players suspended by MLB under the domestic violence and sexual assault policy, 10 were not publicly charged. None of them appealed.