Matt Araiza accused of rape, served with a lawsuit.

[Its Gonna Be Chilly]

8 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

I'm also trying to imagine him being at a party with teammates and only hanging out in the yard, having outdoor sex and never entering the house. 

 

Him admitting to hooking up consensually outside, but claiming he never stepped foot inside is a little hard to believe. 

 

 

 

 

Really? In San Diego? 

 

 

[boyst]

1 minute ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I wonder if the Bills investigator(s) didn't go to Jane Doe and her attorney because they were satisfied with what they got from the police who have reportedly been very thorough in their investigation.

I'm finally being more chatty here as things settle down and I had asked this question to myself.

 

I don't think the Bills would want to, be able to, or be advised to go to the victim. I think as a legal matter the counsel would advise asking the Vic's attorney for any information voluntarily shared. The Bills seeming over interesting and invested into it could suck them into the vacuum of the civil suit.

 

The have to remain far enough away to get information clearly but not burned. 

 

I don't think that the Bills were "satisfied" but maybe the Bills were at the end of their reasonable and liable reach. 

[mead107]

New Orleans man wrongfully convicted of rape released from prison after 36 years; others could be next

[hondo in seattle]

10 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

The Bills may have just been kicking the can down the road by keeping Araiza out of the last preseason game, but one reason to do that is to prevent injury. Teams can’t release a player with a football related injury unless an injury settlement is first reached. 

 

For the sake of argument, let's say Araiza is innocent.  Imagine his level of distress.  The hurt of a false accusation.  The media storm.  The loss of reputation in the eyes of his teammates and coaches.   Going from excitement over making the team to the fear of losing his job...  

 

The kid may have been an emotional wreck at gametime.  McD may have benched him because he wasn't fully capable of playing.  

[HankBulloughMellencamp]

2 hours ago, Behindenemylines said:

Are you suggesting we dig up dead Don Knots and have him play punter a la weekend at Bernie’s?  Love the plan! 

 

your response tells me that you have not seen that movie! ☝️

I implore you to watch it at your earliest convenience. 

 

Starring Don Knotts as the embattled Head Coach,

Ed Asner as the curmudgeon GM ready to fire him,

& even Dick Butkus shows off his acting chops! 

Tim Conway is also in the cast..

 

Gus, the mascot/mule, proves to be deadly accurate as a FG kicker with unlimited range,

and *spoiler alert* ...

leads them all to the promised land 😆 

 

I would argue that Major League is basically a rip off of this plot!

 

[london_bills]

2 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

For the sake of argument, let's say Araiza is innocent.  Imagine his level of distress.  The hurt of a false accusation.  The media storm.  The loss of reputation in the eyes of his teammates and coaches.   Going from excitement over making the team to the fear of losing his job...  

 

The kid may have been an emotional wreck at gametime.  McD may have benched him because he wasn't fully capable of playing.  

Completely. Would destroy him. Aside from the truth I cant see him on the team anymore. 

Edited August 27, 2022 by london_bills

[boyst]

1 minute ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

For the sake of argument, let's say Araiza is innocent.  Imagine his level of distress.  The hurt of a false accusation.  The media storm.  The loss of reputation in the eyes of his teammates and coaches.   Going from excitement over making the team to the fear of losing his job...  

 

The kid may have been an emotional wreck at gametime.  McD may have benched him because he wasn't fully capable of playing.  

Honest question to you and anyone else...

 

When I consider this question I ask myself what the victim must have and be going through. I end up as thinking both are the victim here because some are vilifying an innocent until proven guilty man, trying to destroy his life, career, etc. based on a lot of conjecture.

 

This leaves me conflicted.  Am I alone? 

[Beck Water]

8 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

The way the civil lawsuit is very deliberately written to not directly accuse Araiza of participating in the gang rape, I believe there may be some truth to this. All they had to do was draw an implication between her hooking up with Araiza and later being allegedly gang raped and the media would run with that. I find it telling that Araiza's lawyer is out there publicly defending his client, while lawyers for others named in the lawsuit have said "no comment at this time."

 

I don't see the civil lawsuit as written to not directly accuse Araiza of participating in the gang rape.  To the contrary, it explicitly states that he participated in several ways (which, to be fair, are not corroborated in the young woman's alleged journal)

 

First, it alleges he gave her a spiked drink.  Then, it specifically states he led her into the room where the rape allegedly occurred and where 3 men were already waiting, and tossed her face down on the bed, where she was then allegedly gang raped for an hour and a half.  

 

I believe that makes him an accessory.  This is from a Texas law site, but Cali law likely has something similar:

Quote

Second, a under sec. 7.02 (a)(2), a person is responsible for the acts of another if “acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense, he solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid the other person to commit the offense.” This is the classic definition of an “accomplice”

Giving a girl a spiked drink then taking an incapacitated girl into a room where rapists are waiting and tossing her face-down onto the bed would strike me as "acting with intent to assist the offense".

 

The lawsuit says:

"He handed her a drink anyway. Doe did not see Araiza pour her drink, but she accepted the drink and began consuming it. Upon information and belief, this drink not only contained alcohol, but other intoxicating substances." and

"Araiza then led Doe inside the house, past the living room, and into a bedroom. There were at least three other men already in the bedroom, including defendants Leonard and Ewaliko. Once inside, Araiza threw Doe onto the bed face first. Doe went in and out of consciousness while she was being raped, but she does remember some moments from the horrific gang rape. During this time, her phone was also taken. The men took turns having sex with her from behind while she
lay face first on the mattress."

 

So while the lawsuit leaves vague whether Araiza was one of the men in the room who raped her, it directly accuses him of particpating as an accessory.

 

And whether or not he participated in the rape itself - decent human beings have a moral imperative to #### block rapists.  They take inebriated young women to find their friends and get taken home.  They don't dump inebriated young women on a bed in front of teammates like dumping out a bag of snacks, then leave and shut the door and say "I Know Nothing About Those Snacks Being Eaten"

 

=====>=====>To be fair, the young woman's alleged journal does not state that Araiza is the one who led her to the room where "they were already waiting".  It does not mention him tossing her face first on the bed, and as far as interactions with Araiza outside only mentions "gave me a drink and flirted/introduced ourselves" then "not really sure what happened next". 

 

There are several regards in which the journal does not support the statements in the civil lawsuit.

 

[london_bills]

Just now, Boyst62 said:

Honest question to you and anyone else...

 

When I consider this question I ask myself what the victim must have and be going through. I end up as thinking both are the victim here because some are vilifying an innocent until proven guilty man, trying to destroy his life, career, etc. based on a lot of conjecture.

 

This leaves me conflicted.  Am I alone? 

Not alone. 

[DapperCam]

Absent some place to park him while his legal issues get sorted out, they need to cut him.

[BarleyNY]

2 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

For the sake of argument, let's say Araiza is innocent.  Imagine his level of distress.  The hurt of a false accusation.  The media storm.  The loss of reputation in the eyes of his teammates and coaches.   Going from excitement over making the team to the fear of losing his job...  

 

The kid may have been an emotional wreck at gametime.  McD may have benched him because he wasn't fully capable of playing.  

His emotional state could certainly have been a reason to sit him. And I’m also sure that a person would be upset about what has come out publicly regardless of their guilt or innocence. 

[cd1]

1 hour ago, arcane said:

Man, you gotta read the thread

 

This is not true in the California legal system 

Quote

"In California, it is illegal for someone 18 or older to have sex with someone younger than 18, even if the sex is consensual. This is considered statutory rape under state law. Statutory rape laws are based on the assumption that minors are incapable of giving informed consent to sexual activities."

https://www.cwsdefense.com/blog/2020/june/exceptions-to-californias-statutory-rape-laws/#:~:text=In California%2C it is illegal,informed consent to sexual activities.

[Fleezoid]

3 minutes ago, jkeerie said:

They will have no choice but to release him because the court system is not going to move that fast.   That can't go into the season with him as an active member of the team.  It's too much of a distraction and a huge cloud hanging over the team.

 

Yes. Between yesterday and today, I read alot of these posts, not all (who's got that kinda time?), and I was originally waiting for more info before forming an opinion. But now, it's clear to me that the Bills need to let him go. Just a bad, bad situation. Way too much of a negative distraction going into week 1. 

[LabattBlue]

30 minutes ago, mannc said:

Again, it’s not at all clear that Araiza knew in April that there was any kind of legal issue to be concerned about, especially if you believe he had nothing to do with the alleged gang rape.

So, he had sex with her, took her to a room, and his teammates raped her, but his buddies or anyone else at this gathering, didn’t share the end result with him in the days or weeks afterwards.  
 

okee dokie

Edited August 27, 2022 by BTB

[MPT]

2 minutes ago, Boyst62 said:

Honest question to you and anyone else...

 

When I consider this question I ask myself what the victim must have and be going through. I end up as thinking both are the victim here because some are vilifying an innocent until proven guilty man, trying to destroy his life, career, etc. based on a lot of conjecture.

 

This leaves me conflicted.  Am I alone? 

 

You are not alone. Which is why it's absurd to have 200+ pages of conjecture before anyone knows what really happened. Gotta let the full truth come out before I make any comments about his future with the team. Clearly the victim in the case deserves justice and sympathy but nobody on the outside knows the extent of Araiza's involvement in the crime.

[NickelCity]

I have to imagine the reason he's not already cut is because the Bills realize they'll need to prepare more than a single statement to weather the questions. 

 

[CaliBills]

1 hour ago, Boyst62 said:

You must be under 30, maybe 35.  

 

http://youtu.be/FElfV-2H5vU

haha sorry I was being funny (well trying to).  but thanks for the link

[NickelCity]

1 minute ago, MPT said:

 

You are not alone. Which is why it's absurd to have 200+ pages of conjecture before anyone knows what really happened. Gotta let the full truth come out before I make any comments about his future with the team. Clearly the victim in the case deserves justice and sympathy but nobody on the outside knows the extent of Araiza's involvement in the crime.

 

Season starts in 12 days.

[Beck Water]

5 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

For the sake of argument, let's say Araiza is innocent.  Imagine his level of distress.  The hurt of a false accusation.  The media storm.  The loss of reputation in the eyes of his teammates and coaches.   Going from excitement over making the team to the fear of losing his job...  

 

The kid may have been an emotional wreck at gametime.  McD may have benched him because he wasn't fully capable of playing.  

 

You could be correct, but my personal take on what McDermott said in his presser was that he made the decision because he felt he and the other team decision makers needed time to re-visit and sort through all the information that is available and make their best judgement - but in the meantime, it would be a hideous look to be putting a player potentially involved in something like that on the field in a Bills uniform.

 

I think McDermott is well aware of the possibility that Araiza is not guilty or possibly not involved at all in the more heinous aspects of the civil complaint, and has compassion for his distress and the distress of his family.  Concern that he was "not capable" may have been one reason to not play him, but these guys compartmentalize all the time and contrarily, if the Bills intend to stand by Araiza and keep him on the team they would need to evaluate just how well he can compartmentalize and perform.

[london_bills]

3 minutes ago, MPT said:

 

You are not alone. Which is why it's absurd to have 200+ pages of conjecture before anyone knows what really happened. Gotta let the full truth come out before I make any comments about his future with the team. Clearly the victim in the case deserves justice and sympathy but nobody on the outside knows the extent of Araiza's involvement in the crime.

You are right but the team won't do that.

[Franco_92]

6 minutes ago, cd1 said:

https://www.cwsdefense.com/blog/2020/june/exceptions-to-californias-statutory-rape-laws/#:~:text=In California%2C it is illegal,informed consent to sexual activities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_California_v._Hernandez

 

This has been discussed a million times. Prosecutors will need to prove that he knew she was under 18, and he has witnesses that confirm she was telling him she was 18. There is no chance they can get statutory rape to stick in this case

[billsintaiwan]

As an attorney, he deserves all constitutional protections to which he is entitled and i would be surprised if anything comes of this criminally.

 

As a bills fan, he is a ***** punter. Bye bye.

[Sargent Hulka]

This team is going to lay a big fat egg this season and get busted out of the playoffs, if they even make it that far. Then, all the pontificating moralists in the sports journalism woodpile, and the posters on these forums will be "circling the wagons" all the way back to this tragic dilemma, rationalizing that this is where the season we were supposed to win it all went horribly off the tracks. So, donn your merch jerseys or your "Choose Love" shirts, drink your beers, and pass the chips and dip, cause your life depends on it.

[Rc2catch]

3 minutes ago, Boyst62 said:

Honest question to you and anyone else...

 

When I consider this question I ask myself what the victim must have and be going through. I end up as thinking both are the victim here because some are vilifying an innocent until proven guilty man, trying to destroy his life, career, etc. based on a lot of conjecture.

 

This leaves me conflicted.  Am I alone? 

The hardest part for me is trying to keep in mind I do believe the girl was raped that night. So it’s a fine line of respecting the trauma she went through while also being skeptical if he was involved. 
I figured he was guilty of something until her lawyer started going crazy the other night and he was still on the roster.  I understand public pressure trying to get the law system to work, he had that as soon as the lawsuit was made public. His client had sympathy and national news backing her and the story had traction. Then he went on twitter posting texts and personal info and it looked like he’s panicking he’ll lose his pay to me. 
At this current point I think terrible things happened to her that night. But I’m wavering on Araizas involvement. 

[Pokebball]

47 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Actually, they were told on 7/30 that a civil suit was coming. They knew it would be public. 

There was press back in the winter of 2021 about this incident, as well as significant criticism of SDSU not moving fast enough, for many, on their investigation. Reports were that the SDPD asked SDSU to back off and allow the PD to investigate and not interfere with it. My memory was that there were five football players accused. Names of those accused were not made public, to the best of my knowledge. But certainly the five had to know they were named, right? None of the five were suspended from playing out the 2021 season and that bothered many.

 

This was all over the SDSU and MWC message boards at the time. If MA was one of the named five, which you have to assume was the case, I think all teams considering drafting MA had to know this existed. I'm thinking what MA shared during the draft vs what has currently become known doesn't reconcile. McD and the front office need to determine if what MA said previously amounts to misrepresentation. If so, that could very well be what costs MA a position on the team. Of course, the current claim can be embellished and be the misrepresentation.

 

I guess my point is, even if MA comes out of these claims in a good place, if he lied to Bill's leadership, I still think he's a gonner. I'm guessing this might be what has McD conflicted. 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Pokebball

[Beck Water]

3 minutes ago, BTB said:

So, he had sex with her, took her to a room, and his teammates raped her, but his buddies or anyone else at this gathering, shared the end result with him in the days or weeks afterwards.  
 

okee dokie

 

Even if he didn't take her to the room but only took her inside and introduced her to some other guys and left her standing in the living room.....there are comments that the whole football team knew of rumors that a gang rape took place at that party and members of the football team were involved.  There were anonymous reports to the University naming Matt as potentially involved.

 

It would strain belief that he didn't know something besides a BJ and a quickie in the side yard was involved here.

[MPT]

1 minute ago, NickelCity said:

 

Season starts in 12 days.

 

So sign another punter until everything gets resolved. If Araiza is innocent, he gets his job back. If he's guilty, cut him. Nobody is going to claim him off waivers right now so he can be on the practice squad until further notice.

[Alphadawg7]

10 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

For the sake of argument, let's say Araiza is innocent.  Imagine his level of distress.  The hurt of a false accusation.  The media storm.  The loss of reputation in the eyes of his teammates and coaches.   Going from excitement over making the team to the fear of losing his job...  

 

The kid may have been an emotional wreck at gametime.  McD may have benched him because he wasn't fully capable of playing.  

 

Honestly, while that all makes sense...I don't think there was any scenario Matt played last night.  Lets say Matt was in good spirits and really wanted to play, I still do not see McD allowing that to happen.  

 

McD is 100% about the game is just a game, life is bigger than football, and he is absolutely sincere in that.  McD felt the right decision was for him not to play because he knows the players in that locker room also are confused and don't have all the info, fans are hurting and confused, and all the families involved are as well.  There was just no way McD was going to let him on the field while so much was still unknown. 

 

Maybe he lets him play if some news broke that strongly helped Matt's case, but that had not occurred yet and still has not.  Under the circumstances of yesterday of what limited info was known, there was just no way that the high character of McD who values life more than the game was going to let him being on the field cause more hurt or confusion to anyone affected by this story.  

[BIGFOOTspaceman]

I gotta know more about Beane going forward with keeping him if they were made aware of this.

 

Excuse my ignorance but are the fans owed a press conference detailing the decision making process here?  At least a show of respect to female Bills fans?

 

Our is it really just an "F" you fans, we made a call and you'll have to accept it.  This just seems so out of character for this organization. 

[NickelCity]

Just now, MPT said:

 

So sign another punter until everything gets resolved. If Araiza is innocent, he gets his job back. If he's guilty, cut him. Nobody is going to claim him off waivers right now so he can be on the practice squad until further notice.

 

To be fair this is a lot more information than you offered in the post I quoted. 

 

You're advocating cutting him and signing him to the practice squad. 

[Beck Water]

31 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

I'm also trying to imagine him being at a party with teammates and only hanging out in the yard, having outdoor sex and never entering the house.

Him admitting to hooking up consensually outside, but claiming he never stepped foot inside is a little hard to believe.

 

Has he claimed he never set foot inside?

 

3 minutes ago, MPT said:

 

So sign another punter until everything gets resolved. If Araiza is innocent, he gets his job back. If he's guilty, cut him. Nobody is going to claim him off waivers right now so he can be on the practice squad until further notice.

 

You can't have the guy on the practice squad traveling with the team right now.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Beck Water

[SCBills]

1 minute ago, Rc2catch said:

The hardest part for me is trying to keep in mind I do believe the girl was raped that night. So it’s a fine line of respecting the trauma she went through while also being skeptical if he was involved. 
I figured he was guilty of something until her lawyer started going crazy the other night and he was still on the roster.  I understand public pressure trying to get the law system to work, he had that as soon as the lawsuit was made public. His client had sympathy and national news backing her and the story had traction. Then he went on twitter posting texts and personal info and it looked like he’s panicking he’ll lose his pay to me. 
At this current point I think terrible things happened to her that night. But I’m wavering on Araizas involvement. 

That’s where I’m at. 
 

If you pressed me to make a guess based on what we know.. 

 

Something awful happened to her.  Araiza had consensual sex with her.  She was underage but Araiza had a plausible reason to believe she was of age.  
 

I have no idea if he was involved in any aspect of the alleged rape. 
 

Regarding the team.. I think he’ll be cut because they may feel he eroded their trust by omitting or misleading them on ancillary details around the allegation and public pressure, not because they believe he did it or not. 

[QLBillsFan]

20 minutes ago, mannc said:

If he had nothing to do with the alleged gang rape and no one was threatening to sue him at the time, then it’s not reasonable to expect him to tell the Bills anything about it except in response to specific questions.

What makes you believe the Ravens knew?

JW article says 2 of 5 teams were aware of the situation. As a team vetting a positional need and MA being arguably the top punter-they should have at least been aware. The questions they ask are pretty specific. Any legal or off field issues we should be concerned about? Perhaps then the Bills would have asked, what about the SDSU campus rumors? 

[BIGFOOTspaceman]

2 minutes ago, MPT said:

Nobody is going to claim him off waivers right now so he can be on the practice squad until further notice.

 

I wouldn't even place a bet on this.  I mean, the Bills knew this was coming and kept him.  

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the Raiders or Browns picked him up if the Bills cut him. 

[Behindenemylines]

13 minutes ago, HankBulloughMellencamp said:

 

your response tells me that you have not seen that movie! ☝️

I implore you to watch it at your earliest convenience. 

 

Starring Don Knotts as the embattled Head Coach,

Ed Asner as the curmudgeon GM ready to fire him,

& even Dick Butkus shows off his acting chops! 

Tim Conway is also in the cast..

 

Gus, the mascot/mule, proves to be deadly accurate as a FG kicker with unlimited range,

and *spoiler alert* ...

leads them all to the promised land 😆 

 

I would argue that Major League is basically a rip off of this plot!

 

Was just throwing a little twist in there.  I mean the commissioner would never allow a Mule to play football-he couldn’t wear the approved helmet!  However a dead guy could work.  But thinking of it the Commish does allow Jackasses on the field all the time so not a stretch!  
 

From the movie poster and the context was a pretty easy guess about the movie 😂.  Like the write up about it-read it in that movie guy voice 

[BeastMaster]

I hope the team is in contact with the league office right now seeing if they can have him put on the exempt list until more facts are gathered. 

 

This is the best case scenario by far

[Rc2catch]

2 minutes ago, BIGFOOTspaceman said:

I gotta know more about Beane going forward with keeping him if they were made aware of this.

 

Excuse my ignorance but are the fans owed a press conference detailing the decision making process here?  At least a show of respect to female Bills fans?

 

Our is it really just an "F" you fans, we made a call and you'll have to accept it.  This just seems so out of character for this organization. 

The fans are not owed anything at the current stage. It’s a legal matter and not the team’s responsibility to go into detail yet. How is Beane gonna stand up there and say he had or has information they were comfortable keeping him? When they can’t disclose the information they may or may not have. It’s too early in the process still for them to give any actual information. They literally can’t say much at all. You seen that with Mcdermott last night. 

[mannc]

12 minutes ago, BTB said:

So, he had sex with her, took her to a room, and his teammates raped her, but his buddies or anyone else at this gathering, didn’t share the end result with him in the days or weeks afterwards.  
 

okee dokie

Now you're just parroting the plaintiff's lawyer's talking points.  Araiza denies that's what happened.  As I said, if he had nothing to do with the gang rape, as he maintains, then there was nothing to tell the Bills about in April.

[boyst]

Just now, BeastMaster said:

I hope the team is in contact with the league office right now seeing if they can have him put on the exempt list until more facts are gathered. 

 

This is the best case scenario by far

If not the Bills should cut him, put him on the PS squad (no one else would sign him at this point) until there is some resolution.

 

A new punter is available, Batt Markley. Not polished or that experienced but good charisma guy.

[Beck Water]

5 minutes ago, Pokebball said:

There was press back in the winter of 2021 about this incident, as well as significant criticism of SDSU not moving fast enough, for many, on their investigation. Reports were that the SDPD asked SDSU to back off and allow the PD to investigate and not interfere with it. My memory was that there were five football players accused. Names of those accused were not made public, to the best of my knowledge. But certainly the five had to know they were named, right? None of the five were suspended from playing out the 2021 season and that bothered many.

 

This was all over the SDSU and MWC message boards at the time. If MA was one of the named five, which you have to assume was the case, I think all teams considering drafting MA had to know this existed. I'm thinking what MA shared during the draft vs what has currently become known doesn't reconcile. McD and the front office need to determine if what MA said previously amounts to misrepresentation. If so, that could very well be what costs MA a position on the team. Of course, the current claim can be embellished and be the misrepresentation.

 

I guess my point is, even if MA comes out of these claims in a good place, if he lied to Bill's leadership, I still think he's a gonner. I'm guessing this might be what has McD conflicted. 

 

This matches what I've read (from SDSU press release and some recent news stories.  There was something about Matt being named in one of the anonymous reports to the college, neutrally, to the effect of "if he isn't really involved he deserves to have his name cleared and if he is involved, he deserves to face consequences"

 

I'm wondering if you have or can find any press or message board links back to the winter of 2021?

 

I would dearly love to see them and it sounds as though you know what boards to look for and what papers might have stories.

 

But if what you say is true, it would be ridiculous if the Bills drafted Araiza not knowing this was hanging over him.  They need to look at their area scout and their investigator and how they're functioning.