SAN DIEGO (AP) — Former Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza is being dropped from a lawsuit filed by a woman who alleged she was raped by San Diego State University football players in 2021.

The woman agreed Tuesday to dismiss Araiza from the lawsuit she filed last year, while Araiza agreed to dismiss his defamation countersuit against her, his attorneys said in a statement.

He’ll be removed from the suit in the next week, won’t pay any money to the woman and reserves the right to sue her attorney for harm caused, the statement said, terming the agreement “bittersweet.”

“Matt has been forced to defend himself for the last sixteen months against false accusations and a campaign to ruin his career in the NFL. He will never get this time in his life back,” attorneys Dick Semerdjian and Kristen Bush said.

“Thankfully, there was extensive evidence that was key to securing Matt’s voluntary dismissal from this lawsuit,” the statement added. “Matt was and has always been innocent. The case is over, and Matt has prevailed.”

Araiza said Wednesday that the ordeal has “changed me a lot” and that he wants another shot at the NFL.

“My name, my reputation — this will be tied to me forever, that won’t go away,” he said at a news conference. “It was tough to watch the pain that it caused my family, because I have been proven innocent but they for sure had absolutely nothing to do with this.”

Araiza said he continues to work out.

“When I was cut, I was an NFL starter, had just beat out an NFL veteran. I was on a four-year contract and that wont be handed back to me. No one in the NFL is going to go, ‘Here’s the job that you once had,’ so working to regain where I was at is my primary goal right now,” Araiza said. “I’m confident that I will be able to regain my NFL career — whenever that is. I believe it’s more of a when, not an if.”

The defamation lawsuit against the woman, described in court documents only as Jane Doe, was “legally baseless,” but her first legal bill topped $20,000 and she “simply cannot afford to defend herself,” her attorney, Dan Gilleon, said in a statement reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“Plus she has been beat down by Araiza’s PR campaign and is frankly over it,” he said in a text, the news outlet reported.

The lawsuit against four other former San Diego State University players will continue.

An email from The Associated Press seeking comment from Gilleon wasn’t immediately answered Tuesday night.

Araiza was nicknamed the “Punt God” and honored as a consensus All-American in 2021 for his booming kicks that helped SDSU to a school-best 12-2 season in his senior year. He was selected by the Bills in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL draft but released two days after the filing of the lawsuit.

The woman alleged that she was 17 and attending an off-campus party in October 2021 when Araiza, then 21, had sex with her in a side yard at an off-campus house before bringing her into a bedroom where a group of men took turns raping her. She reported the alleged assault to San Diego police the next day.

Araiza has said he stayed in the backyard and never entered the home during the party and that he left nearly a half-hour before the alleged raping occurred.

He and most of the other players the woman is suing have said their encounters with her were consensual.

After a monthlong police investigation, the San Diego County District attorney’s Office announced in December that it would not file criminal charges. Several media outlets obtained an audio recording of a meeting between prosecutors and the woman in which deputy District attorney Trisha Amador said she concluded, based on a witness statement, that Araiza “wasn’t even at the party anymore” when the alleged raping could have occurred and wasn’t visible in videos that were recovered.

Earlier this year, the New York Jets hosted Araiza for a workout at the team’s facility, six days after a San Diego State investigation found no wrongdoing by him in connection with the alleged rape.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Source link


Attorneys and law firms can elevate their online presence with professionally written content from SEO Content Writing Services monthly plan. Our team of experienced writers specializes in crafting blog posts, articles, and written content that accurately reflect the expertise and knowledge of our clients in the legal field. With a keen eye for detail and a thorough understanding of legal terminology, we provide high-quality writing that helps our clients stand out from their competition and engage with their target audience. Trust SEO Content Writing Services for one time article writing or monthly written content to handle all of your written content needs and showcase your law firm's expertise.
If you need written content, blog posts, or articles professionally written for your website, we can help. Go HERE to find out more.
or email us here: myseowritingservices@gmail.com
To find out more about our article writing or blog post services, fill out the form, thank you.

Name *

First

Last

Business Name

Email *

What type of articles are you intertested in?

Submit

The post Football player Matt Araiza dropped from woman’s rape lawsuit and won’t sue for defamation appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

Matt Araiza has been dropped from the civil lawsuit filed by a woman who accused him and four other former SDSU football teammates of sexually assaulting her at a Halloween party in 2021, the punter’s attorneys said Tuesday. The former punter will also drop his lawsuit against the accuser.

The woman, who was 17 at the time, accused Araiza of bringing her into a room at a home near SDSU where she was raped by several ex-Aztec football players, filed a civil lawsuit against Araiza and two others in Aug. 2022. Two additional men were added to the complaint in 2023.

Araiza, the most high-profile of the defendants named, retaliated with his own defamation lawsuit against the sexual assault accuser in July 2023. In it, he claimed the girl solicited him for sex outside the party and the encounter was consensual.

In a statement released by Araiza’s attorneys on Tuesday, the football star said the sides have reached an agreement, “requiring the plaintiff to dismiss her complaint against him in the next week. Matt is not paying the plaintiff any money and he is reserving his right to pursue the plaintiff’s attorney, Dan Gillion.”

As part of the agreement, Araiza will drop his countersuit, his attorneys said.

NBC 7 reached out to Gillion for comment and to confirm his client’s lawsuit will be dropped against Araiza and has not yet heard back.

It was also not clear if the accused would continue with their claims against the four other men named: Zavier Leonard, Jaiden Brown, Jonathan Harrison and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko, 20, who was earlier this month sentenced to 180 days in jail for possession of child porn.

Araiza,  whose play earned him the nickname “Punt God” and a draft selection by the Buffalo Bills, has long maintained his innocence and has called for the complaint to be dismissed, arguing through his lawyers that he believed she was 18 years old at the time and that the sex.

The San Diego Police Department closed its criminal investigation of the alleged incident in early August 2022 without detailing what, if anything, was discovered. 

The San Diego District attorney‘s Office was then tasked with investigating the police findings and in December 2022 announced that it would not be filing criminal charges against any of the former players, stating, “Prosecutors determined it is clear the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges and there is no path to a potential criminal conviction.”

The DA’s office said their investigation included analysis of all the evidence in the case, including “over 35 taped witness interviews, the results of a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) exam, DNA results, and evidence derived from 10 search warrants.” The search warrants produced four terabytes of data which included forensic evidence from cell phones and video evidence of the incident itself.

Araiza was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2022 but released by the team after the allegations came to light. He was seen working out with the New York Jets earlier this year but remains teamless.

His attorneys said in a statement Tuesday, “He now has the full intention of returning to the NFL in hopes of resuming a successful punting career.”

attorney-says/3379060/”>Source link


Attorneys and law firms can elevate their online presence with professionally written content from SEO Content Writing Services monthly plan. Our team of experienced writers specializes in crafting blog posts, articles, and written content that accurately reflect the expertise and knowledge of our clients in the legal field. With a keen eye for detail and a thorough understanding of legal terminology, we provide high-quality writing that helps our clients stand out from their competition and engage with their target audience. Trust SEO Content Writing Services for one time article writing or monthly written content to handle all of your written content needs and showcase your law firm's expertise.
If you need written content, blog posts, or articles professionally written for your website, we can help. Go HERE to find out more.
or email us here: myseowritingservices@gmail.com
To find out more about our article writing or blog post services, fill out the form, thank you.

Name *

First

Last

Business Name

Email *

What type of articles are you intertested in?

Submit

The post Former SDSU, Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza to be dropped from sex assault lawsuit – NBC 7 San Diego appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.