Trevor Bauer will not face criminal charges following sexual assault allegation

[Diamond_Dog]

After a five-month review of the Pasadena police investigation into allegations of sexual assault against him, Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer will not face criminal charges, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office determined Tuesday, two people with knowledge of the decision said.

That the district attorney decided criminal charges were not warranted does not mean Bauer has been cleared to rejoin the Dodgers. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred retains the right to suspend Bauer. He is widely expected to do so, but not soon.

The district attorney’s office made the decision after reviewing electronic messages between Bauer and his accuser, the Pasadena Police Investigation and a transcript of the civil restraining order proceedings in August, according to two people with detailed knowledge of the review.

Bauer had two sexual encounters with a San Diego woman last year at his Pasadena home. The district attorney determined there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bauer committed a crime.

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https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2022-02-08/trevor-bauer-will-not-face-criminal-charges-following-sexual-assault-allegation

[ColinC]

1. MLB should make him pay back all the money paid to him in his contract

[Auggie]

2. Wow ...

how can the judge possibly downplay the bruises on that victims' face? This reeks of rich, famous, white male privilege.

This, from the link:

In the case of the San Diego woman, she provided medical records that showed doctors had diagnosed her with “assault by manual strangulation” and “acute head injury” following a sexual encounter, in which she said Bauer choked her with her own hair and punched her in the face and vagina. In her testimony in court, the accuser said, “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.” Bauer’s agents have said the encounter was “wholly consensual.”

In lifting the temporary restraining order, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman said the woman’s injuries, as depicted in photographs, were “terrible.” But the judge also said the only evidence of any injury the woman sustained while unconscious resulted from getting “hit on the butt.” The judge also said the woman was “not ambiguous about wanting rough sex in the … first encounter and wanting rougher sex in the second encounter.”

Baseball’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy states that “a single incident of abusive behavior … may subject a player to discipline.” The policy also states that “lack of consent is inferred when a person uses force, harassment, threat of force … or other coercion, or when the victim is asleep, incapacitated, unconscious or legally incapable of consent.”

It is unlikely that Manfred would impose a suspension so long as owners continue to lock out players.

Manfred? I wouldn't be surprised to see Bauer back in MLB.

[luvs2sing]

3. As much as I hate this..

there are enough grey areas on both sides of this situation to make it difficult to press charges. I don’t trust Manfred to do the right thing and suspend his sorry ass. It may end up being up to his teammates to deal with in some way. And that sucks.