Current:Home > ContactFootball player Matt Araiza dropped from woman’s rape lawsuit and won’t sue for defamation -Ascend Wealth Education
Football player Matt Araiza dropped from woman’s rape lawsuit and won’t sue for defamation
View
Date:2025-04-16 01:10:22
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, it was announced Tuesday.
The woman agreed to dismiss Araiza from the lawsuit she filed last year while Araiza agreed to dismiss his defamation countersuit against her, and no money will be exchanged, attorneys for both sides told various media outlets.
“Thankfully, there was extensive evidence that was key to securing Matt’s voluntary dismissal from this lawsuit,” said a statement from Araiza’s attorneys cited by ESPN. “Matt was and has always been innocent. The case is over, and Matt has prevailed.”
Araiza intends to return to the NFL, his lawyers said.
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 Aztec players will continue.
Emails from The Associated Press seeking comment from Gilleon and Araiza’s lawyers, Dick Semerdjian and Kristen Bush, weren’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.
veryGood! (1)
Related
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Young climate activists challenging 32 governments to get their day in court
- Who won? When is the next draw? What to know about Powerball this weekend
- Fact checking 'Cassandro': Is Bad Bunny's character in the lucha libre film a real person?
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- 2 adults, 3-year-old child killed in shooting over apparent sale of a dog in Florida
- 2 adults, 3-year-old child killed in shooting over apparent sale of a dog in Florida
- High-speed rail was touted as a game-changer in Britain. Costs are making the government think twice
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- U.K. to charge 5 people suspected of spying for Russia with conspiracy to conduct espionage
Ranking
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- 1st and Relationship Goals: Inside the Love Lives of NFL Quarterbacks
- Trump criticized by rivals for calling 6-week abortion ban a terrible thing
- WEOWNCOIN: The Emerging Trend of Decentralized Finance and the Rise of Cryptocurrency Derivatives Market
- Who's hosting 'Saturday Night Live' tonight? Musical guest, how to watch Dec. 14 episode
- Kidnapped teen rescued from Southern California motel room after 4 days of being held hostage
- Hollywood writers reach a tentative deal with studios after nearly five month strike
- Gisele Bündchen opens up about modeling and divorce
Recommendation
From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
Biden warns against shutdown, makes case for second term with VP at Congressional Black Caucus dinner
On the campaign trail, New Zealand leader Chris Hipkins faces an uphill battle wooing voters
Safety Haley Van Voorhis becomes first woman non-kicker to play in NCAA football game
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
Woman arrested after 55 dogs are removed from animal rescue home and 5 dead puppies found in freezer
Family of Black high school student suspended for hairstyle sues Texas officials
Scientific dynamic duo aims to stop the next pandemic before it starts