Trevor Bauer accuser becomes flustered by cross-examination

Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer pitches against the Atlanta Braves.

and Luca Evans

Aug. 17, 2021 1:42 PM PT

The demeanor of the woman who has accused Trevor Bauer of sexual assault changed noticeably under cross-examination on the second day of the hearing to determine whether a restraining order should be issued against the Dodgers pitcher.

Mostly poised and self-assured during her nearly six hours of direct testimony Monday and Tuesday morning, the 27-year-old San Diego woman appeared flustered by aggressive questioning mid-morning by Bauer’s attorney, Shawn Holley.

After the testimony of a forensic nurse interrupted the cross-examination for two hours, however, the woman exhibited more confidence when Holley resumed questions in the final hour. The hearing in L.A. Superior Court will continue Wednesday with more cross-examination of the woman and the testimony of other witnesses.

Holley began her questioning Tuesday by demanding the accuser define a “lie of omission,” then proceeded to point out Instagram and text message threads the accuser failed to include in her June 28 request for a temporary restraining order.

Holley asked why the accuser “omitted dozens of key facts in your request for a restraining order,” and the woman had a lengthy pause before saying, “I don’t know.”

During the last hour of testimony, Holley again questioned why the woman did not include several message threads she had with Bauer and with her cousin in her restraining order declaration. This time the woman answered clearly.

Holley: “Did you not think it was of critical importance to tell the judge that you asked for [rough sex]?”

The accuser: “I didn’t ask to be punched all over my body, to the point where I had to be hospitalized.”

The woman’s attorneys objected to dozens of Holley’s questions, but most were overruled by Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman. The judge allowed questions about the woman’s sexual relationships with San Diego Padres players Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mike Clevinger. Both players were mentioned in text messages sent by the woman to a cousin.

After acknowledging that she had a sexual relationship with Tatis, the accuser also said she was fired from the Pad Squad, a group of young women who participate in community events on behalf of the Padres, because of that relationship.

About the time of her first sexual encounter with Bauer, the woman said in a message to her cousin: “Trevor is a wackadoodle like Clev.” That message, and the one mentioning Tatis, were not included in the woman’s request for a restraining order. She reluctantly identified Clev as Clevinger.

The woman, who testified Monday that she was an alcoholic from age 15 to 25 before achieving sobriety in January 2020, said the relationship with Tatis occurred in 2019 when she was still drinking and the relationship with Clevinger occurred in October 2020, after she became sober.

Other questions from Holley pertained to messages exchanged between Bauer and the accuser in the days leading up to their first encounter April 21 and second encounter May 16 not included in the restraining order request.

Two message threads between the woman and her male cousin seemed to ridicule Bauer. In one, she forwarded screenshots to her cousin of messages from Bauer, saying about Bauer, “He was telling me another sob story last night.”

Holley appeared dismayed, saying: “He’s opening up to you and meanwhile you are making fun of him.”

In a text exchange May 9 that also was omitted from the declaration, the woman and Bauer discussed rough sex. She sent him several messages that indicated she enjoyed their first encounter and was willing to take the rough sex further the next time they met.

Holley paraphrased the messages when she asked, “Did you not think it was of critical importance to let the court know you wanted the sex to be rougher and harder, that you said you have never been more turned on?”

The woman pondered the question for only a moment before answering: “No.”

Earlier in the day, she said she knew before meeting Bauer of his three rules of dating: No feelings. No social media. We can date other people.

In one of her first messages to him, she wrote that her feelings button was switched off. She also messaged Bauer that, “I’ll have my NDA [nondisclosure agreement] signed and sealed.” Holley asked why the woman left those messages out of her declaration.

When the woman answered that she no longer had access to the messages, Gould-Saltman interrupted: “You don’t remember saying anything about a feelings button at all?” The woman answered no. How about an NDA? “No.”

Earlier, the woman completed direct testimony that began Monday, focusing mainly on the events after she left Bauer’s house on their second encounter.

She testified in a wavering voice that she was in a state of shock and disorientation, and that she drove home after throwing up in her car and later visited her best friend’s house, trying to piece together what had happened.

She initially didn’t plan to talk publicly about the encounter, she said. But after looking at herself in a mirror for the first time — finding a black bruise that stretched across her vagina, smaller marks on her buttocks and blackened gums — she drove to Alvarado Medical Center in San Diego.

Bauer hadn’t contacted her that entire first day, she testified. The accuser’s lawyers played a voicemail the pitcher had left for her after she’d texted him from the hospital May 17.

“Hey, you, I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing,” Bauer’s voice rang, electronically, through the courtroom. “I’m worried about you, so give me a text or a call back when you have a chance.”

On the stand, the accuser began crying.

To a rapid-fire line of questioning from her attorney — did she go to the hospital to seek publicity? Was she trying to set Bauer up in any way? Was she trying to destroy his career? — the woman repeatedly replied no, explaining she didn’t plan on speaking to the police until a social worker told her it was hospital policy.

In the meantime, she tried to “de-escalate” conversation with Bauer, she said, terrified he’d find out she’d talked to the police. After texts from the pitcher offering to buy her groceries or desserts, she felt Bauer was saying those things to get her to “shut up.”

After asking why she waited to get a restraining order — to which the woman essentially replied that she wasn’t convinced Bauer would be arrested and wanted to seek protection for herself — her lawyer asked what had changed in her life.

“I lost my job, I lost my place of residence, I had to take a leave from my other job,” she replied. “It’s still hard to fall asleep. ... I’ve lost over 10 pounds. And just the sadness I had to live with every day, and the fear I have of Trevor Bauer, it’s brutal.”

Sandwiched between Holley’s two cross-examination sessions was testimony from Kelly Valencia, a forensic nurse at Palomar Health in San Diego who’d given the woman a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) examination May 18.

A licensed nurse since 1983, Valencia testified that the accuser exhibited bruising to her external genitalia — a type she’d never seen before.

“It was frankly alarming,” Valencia said.

One of Bauer’s lawyers, Jon Fetterolf, questioned the integrity of photos of the woman taken by Valencia, the amount of time the woman claimed she lost consciousness, and medications she’d taken. The woman had taken ibuprofen before meeting Valencia, and the nurse said “it’s possible” that the medication exacerbates bruising, especially in combination with Lexapro or gabapentin, two other medications the women said she takes.

At one point, Fetterolf wondered if Valencia had asked the woman if any of the bruising or swelling was inflicted upon herself, to which the nurse replied, “I did not ask her.”

The woman shook her head slightly, lifted her index fingers and wiped tears from the sides of her eyes.