The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office is not charging former Bills punter Matt Araiza in connection with an alleged gang rape, Alex Riggins of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (on Twitter).
Araiza was named in a civil lawsuit that accused he and two other San Diego State football players of raping a then-17-year-old girl in October 2021. The accusation led to the Bills cutting Araiza in August. Buffalo drafted Araiza, 22, in this year’s sixth round. None of the other players implicated in the suit will be charged, according to the Union-Tribune’s Lyndsay Winkley and Teri Figueroa.
The civil suit alleges Araiza had sex with the accuser at an off-campus party and brought her into a bedroom where “a group” of men raped her. The teen said she told friends immediately after she had been raped, and she reported it to the San Diego Police Department the next day. The case went to prosecutors for review in August, but Wednesday’s development will not lead to charges.
The DA’s office indicated it is “clear the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges and there is no path to a potential criminal conviction.” The accuser’s attorney said (via The Athletic’s Tim Graham, on Twitter) the victim’s intoxication on the night of the alleged rape influenced the police’s view of the case. Araiza’s attorney called the civil suit a shakedown in August.
Araiza won the Ray Guy award as the top Division I-FBS punter last season and was drafted 180th overall. The Bills waived him two days after the civil suit surfaced. Buffalo has used Sam Martin, whom Denver released after training camp, as its punter this season.
i can’t believe comments aren’t disabled
Here let me give it a shot:
Jose Reyes
Covid
COMMENTS OPEN!!!!!
But we’re watching……
My man!
I appreciate that Sam is taking a leap of faith here. He is giving us the opportunity to act as mature adult who can engage in reasonable discussions. Let’s not blow it guys.
Are you new here?
They need clicks. Recession coming, ad rates down…..
Ok bro you pay these clowns actual money
Another failure by the justice system. Everyone on campus knew for years.
It occurred less than 14 months ago and yet ‘everyone on campus knew for years’.
Amazing
Everyone knew for year
For a year or just year?
Everyone knew for 1.14 years
The campus was Nostradamus U
There’s a huge hole in your comment, because you say the campus has known for years, but it occurred last year…
Anyways, if it did happen and it wasn’t consensual, then I agree, a huge failure in our judicial system, and I pity the girl. However, with the findings in the investigation, it’s also a huge possibility that she just ruined a young man’s career. I think the big thing going against her is that she didn’t immediately file with the police after it happened…
Is the next day not immediate enough for you?
@Oooof oh my apologies, I didn’t see that part. I stand corrected, you can strike my last sentence.
In that case, then yes, a large possibility of another failure in the American judicial system…
There is also a high probability that this girl got drunk, acted very unladylike, regretted it in the morning, and cried rape. That seems to be the result of the investigation.
That’s a great big pile of creepy conjecture.
The only failure here is this young girl getting drunk, having sex with somebody then regretting it so someone has to pay.
Knew what? That high school girls crush on college boys then get drunk, play stupid games then win stupid prizes?
That thing?
You’re a creep.
No you are.
Care to reframe your thoughts about Matt Araiza?
No. Why would I ever forgive someone who objectively admitted to having non consensual sex and gave someone a matching STD strain.
Saying “If this thing happened this dude totally wasn’t there” Is complete bullshit. Thats a toddler level excuse of “this didn’t happen but if it did this part didn’t”.
Its an admission of guilt.
He didn’t admit to any of that and her team literally admitted he never gave her an STD.
He wasn’t there. Plain and simple. You were wrong.
I’m assuming his NFL career is still dead?
Probably, but if he played in the NBA and went by Kobe he’d just have to buy his wife an expensive ring and would have no repercussions at home or at work.
Hoping the kid gets another chance in the NFL
Hope the Bills bring him back now. Sebastian Janikowski was able to navigate getting through a similar situation and his name isn’t tainted so much.
quintez cephus also.
Wait, Quintez? That name sounds familiar but maybe more like from K&P skit.
Bizmo Funyins!
The “punt god” lives !! I have no doubt he will be back
There’s really nothing to be gained by speculating on events that we did not witness that involved people that we do not know. What we’ve read could be true, false, or lacking context or be incomplete. I wish that we would stop trying to figure out what happened from miles away behind blue screens. The relevant information is that Araiza was not charged, and if an NFL wants him, he will be signed.
This is why we have a system called innocent before guilty, dude was innocent yet he still lost his job and his reputation is tarnished, what a win for women.
Innocence isn’t always determined by the courts. Plenty of guilty people walked because the prosecutor didn’t pursuit a case for whatever reason, or because of jury’s deck. Doesn’t mean they were innocent.
Deck=decision damn autocorrect!
we should’nt lost faith in our judical system, cause when that starts to happen everything falls apart. There’s been lots of cases over the years where men are catfished/framed/falsy accused and their lives suffer because of it, men do it too, but women do it more. And before they can even defend themselves, they’re fired, cancelled, and ostracized from society. I would say its 50/50 that Araiza is innocent, or their just not charging him because he’s famous like you said. There’s tons of crooked DA’s in this country, its one of the most corrupt positions in government, as you can do whatever you want and there’s very little checks and balances against you.