LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer is engaging in a "witch hunt" against the woman who accused him of sexual assault by pursuing an "unauthorized subpoena" for her cellphone records, attorneys for the woman argued in a court filing Friday.
In asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to throw out the subpoena, the attorneys claimed Bauer continues to fight in a restraining order case that was decided seven months ago and wrote: "Mr. Bauer's harassing and abusive conduct in retaliation must stop."
A hearing is set April 4. Bauer is on leave from the Dodgers through at least April 16.
The woman's request for a restraining order was denied, and the Los Angeles County district attorney subsequently declined to charge Bauer with a crime. Major League Baseball can suspend Bauer for violating its sexual assault policy, even in the absence of any charges.
Whatever information Bauer might learn from those records could help him argue that he did nothing wrong, as he claimed in a video last month, and that he should not be suspended for what he said were two nights of rough but consensual sex.
Bauer's attorneys have told the court they believed the records could show how the woman implemented "a plan to seek rough sex so she could later seek to profit." In the hearing on the restraining order, the woman's attorneys denied she pursued the case for fame or money.
His attorneys have told the court the records could support their contention that her attorneys were aware they were "misusing a proceeding designed to protect real victims of domestic violence to gain publicity" and Bauer thus should be reimbursed for his legal fees.
Bauer served the subpoena to the Pasadena Police Department, which obtained the cellphone during its sexual assault investigation. The city of Pasadena initially objected to Bauer's subpoena, in part over concerns "future victims of sexual abuse may be dissuaded from reporting abuse" if they believed their personal records could be opened to the public or the alleged perpetrator of the abuse, even outside a trial.
Bauer's attorneys subsequently provided the court with a letter from the city attorney in which Pasadena agreed to turn over the phone records on the condition the court would determine which ones were relevant and provide appropriate confidentiality.
The woman's attorneys alleged Bauer has neither sought nor received approval from the court to issue the subpoena, instead pursuing "back-door negotiations" with Pasadena to obtain the woman's private records, without involving her in those negotiations.
"Mr. Bauer cannot ignore or eliminate her concerns by simply ignoring her and excluding her from … discussions," her attorneys wrote.
Her attorneys asked that Bauer reimburse them for "no less than $10,000" in legal fees incurred in fighting the subpoena.
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