EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE

Prosecutor Reveals Why Ex-Bills Punter Matt Araiza Wasn’t Charged in Gang Rape Case

Araiza had left a house party before the alleged gang rape occurred, prosecutors said.

Matt Araiza wasn’t even present at the party when an alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old girl took place, prosecutors said in a transcript obtained Tuesday by Yahoo Sports. Araiza, nicknamed the “Punt God,” had a short-lived stint with the Buffalo Bills after being drafted in 2022. He was cut from the team when a civil lawsuit was filed last August in which Araiza and other were accused of gang raping an underaged partygoer in 2021. But in the transcript of a meeting between a deputy district attorney and the girl and her attorneys, prosecutors explained why they declined to file criminal charges. They said they had concluded that Araiza had left the party an hour before the alleged rape. Additionally, video recordings from the bedroom where the alleged rape happened “cannot prove any forceable sexual assault based upon what happened,” deputy district attorney Trisha Amador told the alleged victim. The girl’s attorney, Dan Gilleon, said that the civil lawsuit will press on regardless. “This case is going to trial, and we’ll force Araiza to talk,” Gilleon told Fox News Digital.