Former San Diego State punter Matt Araiza is seeking to have his trial in the civil case accusing him and other ex-Aztecs of rape proceed separately from his co-defendants.
In a motion filed Thursday, Araiza’s attorneys said delays in the case are preventing him from securing a new spot in the NFL.
He and four other defendants were sued last year in connection with the alleged October 2021 gang rape of a girl, then 17, at an off-campus house party.
The case was set to go to trial next month, but San Diego Superior Court Judge Matthew Braner recently granted a motion from the plaintiff’s attorneys to push the trial to February.
Araiza’s attorneys, who have maintained the punter had a consensual encounter with the girl, are seeking to keep the original fall trial date.
“If this court does not sever the claims against defendant Araiza for trial, it will condemn him to unnecessarily continue to carry the burden of this lawsuit into next year, which goes above and beyond the normal pressures for a civil defendant,” a filing from the lawyers states.
“Defendant Araiza has been unable to secure employment because of plaintiff’s false allegations. He seeks to maintain the Oct. 20, 2023, trial date in hopes of clearing his name and getting an opportunity to play in this season with the NFL.”
In support of their motion, the attorneys argue that he faces different allegations from other defendants, who are accused of raping the woman in a bedroom. Araiza claims he left the party by the time the alleged rape occurred.
In the past month, the defendants successfully asked the court to consider their accuser’s sexual history as part of the case, and to give them access to graphic sexual videos said to be from the night of the alleged rape.
Araiza, nicknamed the “Punt God” in college, was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, but was cut in August 2022 after the allegations surfaced.
In December, almost four months after the woman’s lawsuit was filed, the San Diego County District Attorney’s office announced it would not file criminal charges against Araiza or the other players.
Araiza filed a defamation lawsuit against her in July.
– City News Service
