San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan.
Fourteen months after the gang-rape of a then-17-year old woman by SDSU football players, the San Diego District Attorney’s Office has decided not to file any charges. But, the civil suit the victim has filed will move forward.
Plus, SDSU’s own inquiry into the off-campus incident in mid-October 2021 “is still under way,” University President Adela de la Torre stated on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The school has “interviewed individuals from across our community and reviewed a range of evidence.”
Here is the beginnings of a report by Lyndsay Winkley and Teri Figueroa via the Los Angeles Times, Dec. 7, 2022.
Former Buffalo Bills and San Diego State punter Matt Araiza will not be charged in connection with the reported gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at an off-campus party last year, officials announced Wednesday.
The San Diego County district attorney’s office said two of Araiza’s former Aztec teammates will not be charged either in a case that rocked the university over the summer. The decision not to file charges, more than a year in the making, marks a pivotal moment in one of the most-watched criminal cases in the county.
After reviewing evidence that included video footage “of the incident itself,” prosecutors determined “there is no path to a potential criminal conviction,” Dist. Atty. ’s office said in a statement. “Prosecutors can only file charges when they ethically believe they can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” the statement read.
Attorney Dan Gilleon, who represents the young woman, said he is “never surprised when a prosecutor does not file sexual assault charges when the victim was intoxicated.” “It’s a very rare case where the criminal justice system achieves anything satisfactory for the victim in a sexual assault,” Gilleon said in a text message. He said the civil suit his client filed in August against three young men she accused will move forward.
“In the criminal system, the victim is just another witness,” Gilleon said. “She is not represented by anyone…. The lawsuit we filed is not in the criminal justice system. It’s a different ballgame here. The victim is represented, and the focus is on the harm defendants caused her.”
For the balance of their report, please go here.
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