Attorneys for standout SDSU punter Matt Araiza, co-defendants allowed to view videos shot during alleged rape

5-6 minutes 7/22/2023
SAN DIEGO —
A judge on Friday cleared the way for the attorneys for star collegiate punter Matt Araiza and his co-defendants in a civil lawsuit to view sexually graphic videos recorded the night a woman says she was gang raped by football players at a party near San Diego State University.
The order from San Diego Superior Court Matthew Braner also allows the woman’s civil attorneys — who have not seen the videos — to view the clips, which reportedly depict her.
“It is a terrible thing that these videos exist. But they do, and we are in the middle of a lawsuit,” Braner said.
There are 12 video clips, each running between five seconds to less than a minute long, Deputy City Attorney Jill Cristich told the judge on Friday. Cristich represents San Diego police, who have custody of the recordings.
San Diego police found the videos during a months-long investigation after the woman reported she was led into a bedroom and raped at a party held at a College Area home in October 2021. She was 17 years old at the time.
Braner’s order allows the attorneys to view the clips, but whether they will be allowed to make copies to use in court remains a question. The judge suggested that the attorneys view the videos before the next court hearing in the civil case, scheduled for Aug. 4.
Last year, the county District Attorney’s Office declined to file criminal charges, but the civil suit the woman filed months before prosecutors made that decision is moving forward.
The woman’s attorneys in the civil case argue that the videos are legally considered child pornography, and police are barred from sharing them outside of criminal prosecutions.
Araiza’s attorneys say they believe the videos will exonerate their client, and they they don’t believe Araiza is in any of them. Araiza was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in April 2022, then cut from the NFL team when the civil lawsuit was filed four months later.
Deputy District Attorney Trisha Amador talked about and described the videos to the young woman during a recorded meeting in December. Amador told her there was no video that “identifies or puts” Araiza in the bedroom, where the woman said the rape happened. Amador also said the videos are “point-of-view” — shot by the person engaging in a sex act with the woman.
Philip Altieri, one of the attorneys representing the woman, argued that there is no reason for anyone to view the recordings if the only person they depict is his client.
“Per the description of the DA, you can’t see anyone other than my client,” Altieri said. “Those videos are not going to give any further insight to who any of these other perpetrators are.”
Quoting from a statement released by the office last year, Dick Semerdjian — one of Araiza’s lawyers — argued that the videos and photos recorded at the party ultimately led the District Attorney’s Office to find they “had no path to a (potential) criminal conviction.”
“And we believe ... that these critical videos and photographs will lead a civil jury to find that there was no path for a civil verdict of assault,”Semerdjian said.
The woman alleges in her lawsuit that Araiza had sex with her in a side yard of the residence then brought her into a bedroom where she said men took turns raping her. The woman told San Diego police detectives she felt “defeated” so she cooperated to avoid being hurt.
Araiza and co-defendants Zavier Leonard and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko have denied the allegations and said contact with the woman was consensual. Two more defendants — Jaiden Brown and Jonathan Harrison — were recently added to the civil suit. Neither has filed a legal response.
All five defendants in the civil suit were Aztec football players in fall 2021.
Attorney Thomas Buckley, who is representing Ewaliko, said Friday he is pleased the defense will get to view the videos, which he said he believes will depict consensual sex.
“We are confident that the videos exonerate the defendants,” he said.
Araiza said he did have sex with the girl — believing she was 18 — in the side yard, but told the Union-Tribune he was “never in the room ... never in the house.” A witness told police Araiza had left the party about half an hour before the alleged incident in the bedroom.
In a separate matter, the judge signaled during a hearing last week that he would allow defense attorneys to inquire about the woman’s sexual history for about a year leading up the October 2021 party. But when Araiza’s attorneys asked to expand that time to two years — to include the year after the party — Braner said he would consider it, and held off on a final ruling.
He has not ruled on that matter.