Day One of Trevor Bauer hearing: 'She was the perfect victim for someone like Trevor'

WARNING: This story contains descriptions of violence.

LOS ANGELES — The woman who has accused Trevor Bauer of sexual assault took the witness stand here Monday and gave tearful testimony about her two encounters with him at his home this year in Pasadena. She described how she felt drawn to him emotionally before she said he punched her face, split her lip open, choked her out and punched her vagina.

This was Day One of a civil hearing about whether the Dodgers pitcher should continue to be legally restrained from the accuser after she requested a temporary restraining order against him in late June. The woman testified for three hours about her personal history, how they met, her relations with him, what they talked about and why she went back to see him again after she said he choked her unconscious during their first sexual encounter in April.

During their second encounter in May, she said he choked her unconscious twice, punched her face with a closed fist and punched her vagina at least three times.

“I felt like my soul left my body,” she said as Bauer sat silently facing her several feet away in a courtroom downtown. The woman said at the time she “couldn’t speak ... couldn’t fight back.”

Paste BN does not identify individuals who allege sexual crimes without their permission.

The woman also described what Bauer told her after she asked how difficult it was, as a high-profile athlete, to choose women. She said he brought up an example of a time he hurt a woman’s nose and "when she got in the car, she sent him a picture and said, 'Look what you did to me.' ... It became this big mess.”

Bauer’s representatives have not yet cross-examined the woman and have denied her allegations, saying the relations were “wholly consensual.” Bauer’s attorney, Shawn Holley, said in her opening statement that the accuser indicated in her message exchanges with Bauer that she wanted rough sex, "including one (message) in which she said she had 'never been more turned on,' " in her life after their first encounter in April.

More: Trevor Bauer's attorney aggressively questions accuser at hearing

The messages show “she’s encouraging a more robust rough sex relationship,” before the second encounter, Holley said.

After evaluating the evidence, Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman will make the call in a hearing that might last a few more days. The woman’s attorneys are requesting a restraining order of five years.

In June, the court granted her restraining order request only on a temporary basis until evidence could be weighed by a judge. This hearing will help decide whether it will remain in force. Beyond that, it could influence ongoing investigations by local law enforcement and Major League Baseball, which also has looked into a case with Bauer and a woman in Ohio, according to The Washington Post. 

The California accuser “never consented to being struck in the face,” said the woman's attorney, Lisa Helfend Meyer. “She never consented to being scratched on her face. She never consented to being repeatedly punched in her vagina ... She never consented to being choked twice with her own hair and left unconscious ... (or) having her lip split open by Trevor’s fist.”

Bauer, who signed a three-year, $102 million contract with the Dodgers in February, has not been arrested or charged. He has been on paid leave from the Dodgers since July 2.

The woman testified she is a lifelong baseball fan and met Bauer on Instagram after she tagged him in a message. She then drove from her home in San Diego to meet him twice. In their first encounter in April, she said she was drawn to him in part because they opened up to each other before their sexual encounter. She said she spoke to him about her alcoholism. He discussed being bullied as a child.

"He was very kind," she said. 

But then she said he became aggressive during sex and used her long hair to choke her unconscious. 

"He didn't tell me he was going to choke me with my hair," she said. 

When she woke up, she said he was having anal sex with her. When she told him to stop, she said he did. In the bathroom, when she noticed bleeding, she said she was embarrassed and "wanted to pretend like nothing happened."

She said she wanted to continue their relationship because of the emotional connection she said they shared after that first meeting. In his defense, Bauer’s attorneys have shown messages in which she asked for rough sex, including being choked and slapped in the face.

She said she was telling him "what he wanted to hear" and was "just going with the flow," but that he took it too far. In one message to her cousin, she wrote, "It was consensual but like didnt expect two black eyes!? Like he def took it too far dont you think lol."

To support the case, her attorneys provided photographs of facial injuries and a diagnosis from a San Diego hospital after the second encounter, which said she suffered an acute head injury and assault by strangulation.

“A person cannot consent to being assaulted, particularly when they are unconscious,” her attorneys stated in a court filing last week.

During their second meeting in May, the accuser testified she and Bauer discussed her being choked unconscious beforehand. Her attorney asked why she didn’t tell him she didn’t want that. The woman responded that he was powerful and she “just wanted to give him what he wanted.” 

She also testified Bauer asked her for a "safe word," apparently a code to stop any roughness if it went too far for her. She gave him the safe word of "daddy issues" but didn't use it at first because, "I couldn't physically get a word out." When she later said the word "daddy," Bauer stopped.

According to her, Bauer then said, "You're safe. I'm here ... I would never do these things if it wasn't sexual."

Meyer, her attorney, called that statement "bone-chilling." The accuser "is vulnerable, scared and fragile," she said. "She was the perfect victim for someone like Trevor."

In a court filing July 22, a Pasadena police officer said their investigation was ongoing while “awaiting information from third-party individuals and entities.”

“When the criminal investigation is completed, (Pasadena police) may refer the matter to the District Attorney’s office to consider whether or not criminal charges will be filed,” she stated.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com.