By Gene Myers

Detroit Free Press Sports Director

The legal team for new Detroit Tigers pitcher Alfredo Simon has accused the woman suing him for $15 million with providing vastly different accounts of an alleged sexual assault — one to a police detective and the other in her civil lawsuit.

To try to prove this claim, Simon's lawyers have asked a federal judge for access to the woman's grand jury testimony, which was part of a criminal investigation in 2013 that resulted in no charges against Simon. Grand jury testimony usually remains secret, but Simon's lawyers argued that he was entitled to know whether her sworn words matched a recorded interview with the detective in May 2013 or the lawsuit filed in April 2014.

In a motion filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Simon's lawyers contended: "The recording demonstrates that, contrary to her complaint, plaintiff had the capacity to and did form the intent to have a sexual encounter with Mr. Simon; their alleged sexual encounter involved no violence or coercion; and she never communicated a lack of consent to sexual activity. Plaintiff likely made these same statements to the grand jury. If she did, Mr. Simon is entitled to use them to demonstrate the falsity of the complaint's allegations. On the other hand, if she told the grand jury about a violent, nonconsensual encounter, Mr. Simon is entitled to use the testimony to show that plaintiff lacks any credibility — that she contradicted her own initial statements."

Simon and the woman met at a nightclub on April 27, 2013, when his team, the Cincinnati Reds, were in Washington for a series. They eventually took a cab that arrived at the team hotel around 2:30 a.m. Those points are not in dispute.

In the civil suit, the woman — identified in court documents by the pseudonym Jane Doe — said she was "visibly intoxicated" and "therefore incapable of consenting to any sexual contact." She also contended that Simon "abruptly changed his behavior from a romantic encounter into a terrifying physical attack."

In their motion, Simon's lawyers said the woman, during a 30-minute interview with a detective, said that she was "pretty intoxicated" but knew "what was going on." Simon's lawyers included a text from the woman to her roommate at 2:22 a.m. in which she wrote "I'm gonna" have sex with "the baseball player."

According to the suit, the woman said Simon "started to get rough" and she "told him to stop." The suit contended that Simon tried unsuccessfully to force his penis into her vagina but then forced his penis into her rectum, "causing (her) to cry out in unbearable physical pain as he continued to rape her." The suit also contended that Simon grabbed the woman by her hair and held her head in front of his penis.

In the motion, Simon's lawyers said the woman told police her first recollection inside the hotel room was being on top of Simon on the bed, unclothed from the waist down, "but not really having sex." The motion contended she told the detective: "I don't know if I said stop, I gotta be honest. I don't know what I said." She told the detective that Simon attempted vaginal and then anal intercourse, according to the motion, but she never mentioned crying out in pain or having her hair grabbed.

"I don't want to say he was like that," she was said tell to the detective. "It was almost as like he was just like directing me, you know. It hurt. But I don't want to make it sound like it was so violent." According to the motion, she later said: "I'm confused if this was rape because I put myself in this position. ... I know people who have been beaten and like raped. It wasn't like that."

According to the suit, the woman fled the room "crying, disheveled and in fear for her safety."

In the motion, Simon's lawyers said the woman told the detective that before leaving she used the bathroom, washed her face and mouth and grabbed her jeans. The lawyers wrote: "Mr. Simon allegedly then asked plaintiff, words to the effect, 'you're not staying?' She then 'ran out.' "

The motion included a text exchange from the woman and her roommate. A half-hour after the woman texted that she was going to have sex with Simon, her roommate replied twice: "please they have HIV." "Where r u are u ok?" The woman replied: "No."

The Tigers acquired Simon, 33, Thursday from the Reds for infielder Eugenio Suarez and minor-league right-hander Jonathon Crawford. Simon comes off his best season — he went 15-10 with a 3.44 ERA and was selected for the All-Star Game.

Attorneys for both sides declined to comment to the Free Press last week on the civil suit. The judge has ordered them to stay silent.

At the time the trade, Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said: "We're totally aware of the situation. I can't talk about his legal scenarios but we're aware of it and comfortable where it stands at this point."

Simon's lawyers tried to get the court to force the woman — a 27-year-old social worker — to publicly identify herself in court records. The court decided she could stay as a Jane Doe in court filings, but if the suit went to a trial, she would have to identify herself in court. The Free Press, like other media organizations, usually does not identify sexual assault victims.

Staff writer David Jesse contributed to this report.