Prosecutor: Trevor Bauer will not face criminal charges

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer He will not be criminally charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

The ruling concludes a five-month review of the case, which stems from allegations of sexual assault against Bauer by a San Diego woman who filed for a restraining order against her last June.

The District Attorney’s Office reached its conclusion after reviewing the evidence from the civil restraining order process and all other physical evidence and concluded that it was unable to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Bauer, who spent the final three months of the 2021 regular season on administrative leave, still faces possible disciplinary action from Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, who has the autonomy to apply suspensions under the domestic violence policy that it was previously agreed upon in conjunction with the MLB Players Association.

In a statement, MLB said its investigation into Bauer “is ongoing and we will provide further comment at an appropriate time.” A conclusion of the criminal investigation, more than five months after a Los Angeles judge dismissed the woman’s request for a restraining order, could allow the league to interview Bauer, apparently speeding up the process. But the impending lockout amid ongoing negotiations with the MLBPA over a new collective bargaining agreement could complicate matters.

The Dodgers, who owe Bauer more than $47 million in 2022, declined to comment, stating they would not until MLB concludes its investigation.

Shortly after the ruling was made, Bauer posted a video of more than seven minutes on YouTube titled “The Truth” in which he flatly denied the woman’s accusations, spoke of how difficult the last few months have been for him and blamed certain segments of the media for not reporting on the subject in a matter that he considered fair.

Bauer, who chose not to testify during the civil trial in late August due to the pending criminal investigation by the Pasadena Police Department, denied the specific allegations made by the woman in her statement, stating at one point, “She chose to stay night, both times, and left the next day without incident or concern. And when he left, he certainly looked nothing like the photos that were later attached to his family court statement and circulated by his attorneys. to the media.

“While this is not the time or place to address every single lie or falsehood this woman or her attorneys told the court, I want to be very clear about a few things: I have never punched this woman in the face. Never I punched her in the vagina. I never scratched her face. I never had anal sex with her, or sodomized her in any way. I never assaulted her in any way at any time. Rough sex, disruptive acts and behavior she described They just didn’t happen.”

Bauer joined the Dodgers in February 2021 on a nifty short-term deal that would pay him up to $85 million over the course of two seasons, but he didn’t pitch beyond June 28 of his first year.

The next day, a then-27-year-old San Diego woman filed an application for a domestic violence restraining order detailing allegations that Bauer assaulted her during two sexual encounters at her Pasadena, California, home. in April and May. In her statement, the woman, whom ESPN chose to remain anonymous, essentially alleged that Bauer took rough sex too far, saying he strangled her unconscious multiple times, repeatedly scratched and punched her all over her body, sodomized her without consent. and he left her with injuries that prompted a trip to the emergency room.

Bauer’s attorneys, Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba, denied the allegations, calling them “fraudulent” and “baseless” in an opening statement.

MLB placed Bauer on paid administrative leave on July 2, allowing time for criminal and internal investigations to take place, and continually extended his furlough through the end of the postseason. Five days later, the Dodgers canceled Bauer’s scheduled bobblehead night and removed its merchandise from its stores, stating that the team “did not feel it was appropriate while investigations continue.”

At the conclusion of a four-day hearing on August 19, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman vacated the temporary restraining order, ruling that Bauer posed no continuing threat to the woman and that her injuries “were not they were the result of anything she verbally objected to before or during the match,” pointing to the woman’s text messages asking to be drowned. The judge said the “injuries shown in the photographs are appalling”, but added: “If she set limits and he exceeded them, this case would have been clear. But she set limits without considering all the consequences, and the defendant did not exceeded the limits established by the petitioner”.

The Pasadena Police Department concluded its investigation of Bauer on August 27 and forwarded the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which spent the next five months reviewing the findings. Thus, MLB’s investigation stalled while it awaited resolution of the criminal element and was in the midst of a lockout.