Unsealed documents show that prosecutors in the gang rape case of Matt Araiza said that the former Bills punter was not present during the alleged incident.
Araiza and two of his former San Diego State teammates were accused of gang rape at a house party in San Diego in a civil suit last year.
In December, prosecutors declined to press charges in the case, saying there was not enough evidence of proof for a conviction.
Monday, Yahoo Sports reported that a 200-page transcript of a meeting that deputy district attorney Trisha Amador had with the accuser became available, and that Amador said Araiza could not have been the one to lead her toward the alleged gang rape because he had “left” the house an hour before it would have occurred.
“He wasn’t even at the party anymore,” Amador told the accuser.
“All I know is that at that point, suspect Araiza is gone from the party.”
The civil suit had claimed Araiza demanded the then-underage girl perform oral sex on him, before taking her to another room where three men raped her for an hour-and-a-half.
Araiza, nicknamed “the Punt God,” was selected in the sixth round of 2022 NFL Draft, and was released by the Bills after the allegations became public.
Prosecutors also told the accuser that they could not determine from video evidence that the sexual intercourse with the other men was forcible as opposed to consensual.
“In looking at the videos on the sex tape, I absolutely cannot prove any forceable sexual assault based upon what happened,” Amador said.
“There’s nothing in the videos that sound like you’re saying stop or this hurts or anything like that,” District Attorney investigator Ted Mansour told the alleged victim at the meeting.
Dan Gilleon, the attorney for the accuser, told CBS 8 in San Diego that the witness whom prosecutors relied upon for Araiza’s alibi was a “buddy” of the punter.
The accuser’s civil lawsuit remains active.
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