Matt Araiza, a free-agent punter who was cleared of criminal wrongdoing when he was accused of rape last year, revealed he plans on suing the lawyer of the accuser for defamation.
Araiza appeared on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” on HBO. He said he would not settle the pending civil lawsuit that he is up against and would sue attorney Dan Gilleon for defamation.
“I’ve already hired an attorney for it, and things have already been drafted,” he told “Real Sports” correspondent Andrea Kremer. “I will never waive my right to sue him. That’s coming.”
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San Diego State Aztecs kicker Matt Araiza attempts a kickoff during the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl game between the UTSA Roadrunners and the San Diego State Aztecs on Dec. 21, 2021 at the Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. (Steve Nurenberg/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Araiza’s mother, Kerry, also spoke about the potential defamation suit.
“This attorney and plaintiff have taken absolutely everything from Matt. His job, his reputation, his name, his livelihood,” she said, via Awful Announcing. “This child of ours is sitting home, unemployed. Unemployable. Cannot get back into the NFL. He has no idea what his future will be. So it’s cost him everything.”
Gilleon vowed to move forward with the civil lawsuit against Araiza. He also appeared to revise why they were suing him after authorities in California concluded that Araiza was gone from the party where the alleged gang rape took place.
“We are not saying that he was, and we are not saying that he wasn’t,” Gilleon said. “Let’s say he was not one of the men in there. That doesn’t absolve him of liability.
“Our allegation is, is he contributed heavily to the harm that she suffered that night,” he added. “He had sex with my client. Following that, she ended up having sex with multiple guys and came out of there bloodied, in shock. Ended up at the hospital, ended up with the police, and ended up traumatized. So that’s what I mean by the gang rape. Gang rapes can occur for two days. They can occur over time. They can occur multiple places. So that’s the clarification.”
Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza walks on the sideline during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts in Orchard Park, New York, on Aug. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus, File)
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Prosecutors came out with their report on in May after he was accused in the summer of 2022 of being a part of a gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at a party when he was at San Diego State. The lawsuit stated that Araiza had thrown the girl on a bed “face first” and she went in and out of consciousness while having unsolicited sex. The lawsuit added that it lasted an hour and a half, and she left the room bloodied and crying.
Following a 124-day investigation, prosecutors came out on Dec. 7, 2022, and said they would not press charges.
Yahoo Sports broke down what police and prosecutors found in a “200-plus page transcript of a 100-minute meeting” where a deputy district attorney explained why they found no evidence to press charges against Araiza or anyone else accused in the civil lawsuit to the girl and her attorneys.
The biggest piece of evidence that showed that Araiza allegedly was not involved was that he “left” the house where the party was being thrown around 12:30 a.m. Prosecutors determined the alleged incident occurred an hour later.
Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza, left, celebrates with place-kicker Tyler Bass, right, after Bass kicked the go-ahead field goal in the second half of a preseason NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022, in Orchard Park, New York. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
“He wasn’t even at the party anymore,” Deputy District Attorney Trisha Amador told the plaintiff, via Yahoo Sports. “All I know is that at that point, suspect Araiza is gone from the party.”
There were also videos of the incident inside the bedroom where prosecutors did not see enough to say it was a gang rape instead of consensual sex.
“In looking at the videos on the sex tape, I absolutely cannot prove any forceable sexual assault based upon what happened,” Amador explained.
Araiza has insisted that any type of sexual contact with the girl was consensual.
He was already on the Buffalo Bills when the allegations came to light. He was immediately released and didn’t receive another workout until earlier this year after he was cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
Matt Araiza speaks to reporters during the NFL Draft Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on March 5, 2022 in Indianapolis. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
“I just didn’t see how people could do this. To make a lie, like that, about someone’s life, knowing the implications of it. I was in shock. And seeing everyone in the world believe it and knowing that they just completely got misled,” he told Kremer.
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“No chance to defend myself. No waiting for the police to back any of these statements. Not waiting for the trial for anything to be proven in court. There was a feeling that society was sure about this. They were 100% sure.”
Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
