When After having his allegations of rape dismissed, a former Bills player speaks out.
This week, the former NFL player’s attorney and the person who accused him came to an agreement without paying a settlement.
Matt Araiza, a former Buffalo Bills punter, addressed the media during a news conference on Wednesday morning for the first time since his rape accusations were withdrawn.
Lawyers for Araiza, 23, and his accuser, Jane Doe, came to a decision this week to drop the athlete’s allegations of sexual assault without a financial settlement, according to Fox 5 San Diego and Buffalo news station WGRZ.
Dick Semerdjian and Kristen Bush, Araiza’s attorneys, said in a statement to Fox 5 on Tuesday that “this week marks the end of the August 2023 civil lawsuit filed against our client.”
Araiza spoke with the media about the situation on Wednesday. “It has changed me a lot,” he declared, referring to the period of time since the lawsuit’s filing in August 2023 as a “rollercoaster”.
Araiza, a former standout player for San Diego State, went on, “My name, my reputation—these will always be associated with me; they won’t fade.
The case, which was submitted to the San Diego Superior Court in August 2023, charged Araiza with engaging in sexual activity with a drunken 17-year-old outside of a house before bringing her inside, where he and two former San Diego State football players, Zavier Leonard and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko, allegedly assaulted her further. (In this instance, Leonard and Ewaliko were never prosecuted.)
Araiza later acknowledged to speaking with USA Today Sports that he had had consensual sex with the victim both that evening and the following day. “We had a brief encounter, and it is absolutely not how it’s been portrayed in the media or the lawsuit,” he told the news organization.
According to the report, after a 124-day investigation, prosecutors decided in December 2023 not to file any criminal charges.
Even though authorities had obtained over 35 witness statements and 10 search warrants that turned up four terabytes of information about the incident, very little information about the circumstances leading up to that decision was made available at the time.
More information about the lawsuit’s dismissal was provided by a transcript of the victim’s meeting with deputy district attorney Trisha Amador, which USA Today was able to obtain in May. The video was provided by Jane Doe on the evening of the purported incident.
As stated in the transcript, which was obtained by USA Today, Amador said to Araiza’s accuser, “I absolutely cannot prove any forceful sexual assault based upon what happened,” after watching the videos on the sex tape.
Moreover, USA Today reported that the transcript showed that the district attorney’s office had utilized video footage to ascertain, based on the “physical characteristics” of the men shown in the video, that Araiza was not even present at the scene of the alleged gang rape.
NFL teams have gotten in touch with Araiza after the lawsuit was dismissed, his agent told Fox 5.
When his NFL career returns, Araiza declared, “I’m confident that I will be able to regain it.” “I think it’s more of a when than an if.”
The outlet claims that the victim and several attackers had their encounter between 12:55 and 1:30 in the morning, which was an hour after Araiza reportedly left the party.
MORE NEWS FROM skysport22.co
Punter Matt Araiza’s bills were dropped as a result of a sexual assault lawsuit.
He was the target of a civil lawsuit last year, but it was dropped without any money due, according to his lawyers.
In addition, Araiza dropped the defamation lawsuit he had brought against the accuser.
Matt Araiza, a former punter for the Buffalo Bills, resolved the lawsuit that ended his NFL career, but he did so without giving anything to the victim of his alleged sexual assault.
After the woman, known only as Jane Doe, accused Araiza and others of rape at an October 2023 party close to San Diego State University, Araiza was freed a few days before the 2023 season. The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office considered charging Araiza last December but decided against it after a “thorough, thoughtful, and careful” review of the evidence.
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