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Alaina GetzenbergESPN
Former Buffalo Payments punter Matt Araiza and former teammates on the San Diego State soccer group is not going to face prison expenses in reference to an alleged gang rape of a minor that occurred at an off-campus occasion in October 2021, the San Diego County District Lawyer’s Workplace introduced Wednesday.
“In the end, prosecutors decided it’s clear the proof doesn’t assist the submitting of prison expenses and there’s no path to a possible prison conviction,” the district legal professional’s workplace stated in an announcement. “Prosecutors can solely file expenses once they ethically imagine they are often confirmed past an inexpensive doubt.”
The DA’s workplace stated the San Diego Police Division didn’t suggest expenses be filed when the case was submitted in early August.
A civil go well with stays ongoing.
The Payments launched Araiza on Aug. 27, two days after a civil lawsuit was filed accusing him of getting intercourse with a then-17-year-old highschool senior, who was underneath the age of consent in California, outdoors an off-campus occasion held at his residence within the early morning of Oct. 17, 2021, when he was a member of the SDSU soccer group. The lawsuit states that Araiza, who was 21 on the time, then took her inside the house, the place a minimum of three different males, together with the opposite two defendants named within the go well with — Araiza’s then-Aztecs teammates Zavier Leonard and Nowlin Ewaliko — had been situated, and that she was repeatedly raped for about 1½ hours. An preliminary crime report obtained by ESPN stated the lady sustained “extreme black and blue bruising to her neck and throat area,” along with a half-inch laceration to her higher brow. She had bruising on her proper leg and famous “vaginal ache and bleeding from the incident.”
The teenager reported the alleged rape to San Diego police the next day. 9 months later, on Aug. 5, 2022, San Diego police turned its investigation over to prosecutors for evaluation.
Araiza launched an announcement by his company that learn, “I’m grateful that the District Lawyer and the San Diego Police Division have found all of the details and located no prison wrongdoing. I’m excited to proceed my NFL profession.”
Leonard’s title was faraway from the SDSU roster after the lawsuit was filed, and Ewaliko was not on the roster when coaching camp started.
“I’m by no means stunned when a prosecutor doesn’t file sexual assault expenses when the sufferer was intoxicated,” the plaintiff’s legal professional, Dan Gilleon, stated in an announcement. “It is a very uncommon case the place the prison justice system achieves something passable for the sufferer in a sexual assault.
“The lawsuit we filed just isn’t within the prison justice system. … It is just within the civil system {that a} sufferer of sexual assault can obtain justice, and we plan to just do that.”
Gilleon stated the go well with is to start with phases.
Responding to the litigation, Araiza’s civil legal professional, Dick Semerdjian, stated in an announcement, “Ought to the plaintiff proceed in her civil case regardless of the District Lawyer’s conclusion that there’s ‘no path to a possible prison conviction, we’ll vigorously defend the civil criticism towards our shopper.”
In accordance with the discharge from the DA’s workplace, sexual assault specialists, together with prosecutors and investigators, analyzed the proof within the case, together with over 35 taped witness interviews, the outcomes of a Sexual Assault Response Crew (SART) examination, DNA outcomes and “forensic proof from cell telephones and video proof of the incident itself.”
The DA’s workplace additionally stated it “met with the younger lady on the middle of this case twice” and “labored with SDPD to conduct additional investigation, which resulted in interviewing further witnesses.”
San Diego State president Adela de la Torre stated in an announcement Wednesday that the varsity’s pupil conduct investigation is ongoing, after the college waited till it was cleared by San Diego police in July to proceed with its personal investigation.
Araiza was drafted by the Payments within the sixth spherical of the 2022 NFL draft after serving to SDSU to a school-best 12-2 season in his senior yr.
