This happens all the time on college campuses today. A good friend son was expelled from his school for having drunken consensual sex after she claimed she didn’t want to have sex.Well, we knew charges were not brought against him, and now a 200+ page report details exculpatory evidence in the case against Matt Araiza.
Prosecutors: Former Bills punter Matt Araiza wasn't present during alleged gang rape
A recently released 200-plus-page transcript details exculpatory evidence in the case against Matt Araiza.sports.yahoo.com
I'm stunned there isn't more media push back now that it is painfully obvious this man was not even present when the alleged rape occurred, this is about as bad as it can get for a grown man living in America in any walk of life, you're entire ability to provide for yourself and family completely shattered in the blink of an eye any time someone cries rape, foul or just "I don't like you" and that's all it takes now to destroy another person's life.
This guy should have an entire documentary produced on what happened to him because it can happen to anyone it seems these days.
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P Matt Araiza, KC (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter rockaction
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dickey moe
Fingerpicker
... and the accusers attorney. Heads (and wallets) should roll for this.
The Duff Man
Footballguy
I don’t understand why this news took 9 months to break? But I don’t fault the Bills for cutting him and distancing themselves from the situation.
Hoping he gets a shot somewhere and the worst this did was shave a year off his career (which is still substantial)
Max Power
Footballguy
I don't give the Bills a free pass here. They made the call that the bad PR wasn't worth a punter. Same situation with a more valuable player and they probably make a different decision. How much they chose to stand by the accused was directly related to his value to the team. It was a business decision and I get that, but I think it damages the "culture" of an organization for this to play out how it did.
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
Every team operates the same way, though.
efactor
Footballguy
But that’s not the worst of it. He will always be viewed as a rapist by many despite not even being at the party at the time of the rape. When you are accused of certain crimes, it never goes away.
Max Power
Footballguy
I know, and I think its a bad look on the league as a whole. The selective outrage, inconsistent punishments and hypocrisy get a bit tiresome. Fans always give the NFL and teams a pass on this stuff, so there is little incentive to address the problems.
JetMaxx
Footballguy
Review this thread as testimony to your point
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
It's just the world, man. Tim Cook can get away with more than a janitor at Apple, and no one is going to quit buying iPhones because some Apple janitor got unjustly disciplined.
And it's that way in everything. Politics, legislation, etc. People know 1/100th of what's going on and get all worked up about it. All the time and it's always been like that, and will always be like that. It's just human nature that most people feel like they need to have an opinion on anything they hear a little bit about.
ghostguy123
Footballguy
I like the idea of someone falsely accusing someone gets the same punishment that the person they accused would get it found guilty.
rockaction
Footballguy
In come the people who initially were mad that people wanted proof until finding guilt to defend the Bills in 3...2...1
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
That seems like pure conjecture. Maybe you’re right, but we have no way of knowing that. Even if that is true, it’s still hard to blame them IMO. They were Super Bowl favorites. Dealing with the massive headache of scrutiny all year over a rookie punter would have been a huge disservice to the rest of the Team. So I’d argue it was a Team decision, not a business decision.
And it’s possible that Araiza would still be on the team if he hadn’t lied to them. They explicitly said that he had lied to them and that changed things for them. Pure guess, but I’m guessing he told them that there had been no sexual contact at all which is what he also told investigators initially. But from the pretext phone call and the statements of her friends, instead of her seeing him urinating at the side of the house, they engaged in consensual oral sex. And like I tell my daughter all the time, if I find out she’s lying about a situation, the worst part is that it then calls into question everything else she’s telling me. If they found out he lied about having no sexual contact with her, it becomes that much harder for them to stick behind his story.
As for Araiza, it certainly sucks right now that prosecutors are saying that there is video available that seems to indicate that even the sexual contact that happened that night that he wasn’t even a part of wasn’t non-consensual, and yet Araiza’s team can’t get access to it because she is underage and so it’s considered child sexual abuse materials.
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
The Bills were legitimately in a tough spot, because their mouth-breathing beat reporters and 2/3 of their fanbase were up in arms over what turned out to be a false accusation. Obviously the right thing to do was to stand by their player, but that's easier said than done once the mob is out there with torches and pitchforks in hand.
The villains in this story -- besides the girl -- are the people in the media who led the mob. Not sure why that isn't a fireable offense. If you're a reporter and you decide to ruin somebody's life, it's not asking too much to at least be right.
Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
Why should the Rams get him?
He'd look great in a Miami uniform plus he wouldn't have to punt very often
massraider
Footballguy
Pretty sure you quoted my answer to your question.
Why Miami? He was suspected of sexual assault, not cocaine trafficking.
Gatorman
Supreme Elite Maximum Tier
Diversification.
Even if he is innocent of the horrible allegations, he does have some possible criminal liability here. He did engage in sexual activity with a 17 year old and lie about it.
Donnybrook
Footballguy
I am shocked how much evidence the victim's attorney is releasing on twitter. It like the court of public opinion is more important to him than his client's privacy and the actual winning of the civil case.
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
Nobody is going to prosecute a 21 year old for having sex with a 17 year old. (a) That's completely legal in most states, (b) this isn't the kind of situation that statutory rape laws were designed to address, and (c) nobody cares.
rockaction
Footballguy
That seems to be at their discretion, though the way this case is going, they obviously aren't doing that. It would seem that given that the DA was sitting down with the accuser and showing her camera footage of herself seemingly consent to sex, they're likely not going after the guys for statutory.
But again, it really is at their discretion the way the law is written. They're just not going to enforce it because of your reasoning and that it's not strict liability (as was pointed out upthread to my surprise) but rather, a liability that takes circumstances like the 21-17 gap into consideration.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Bad PR isn't worth a rookie punter who wasn't even part of the team 4 months prior. Totally sucks for Araiza obviously but I think the decision was easy for the Bills.
Don Quixote
Footballguy
Working out with the Jets today.
efactor
Footballguy
Zow
Footballguy
I've seen this lots of times. This is a felony that may result in prison time in my state.
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Ilov80s
Footballguy
I was talking about at the time when we didn’t know his innocent or guilt
Ilov80s
Footballguy
I mean if you just met someone last month and then he tells you “oh by the way I’m innocent but the police are investigating me for (fill in the blank for some horrible crime) and it’s looking like I might get charged.” Would you stand by him because he said he was innocent? Would you give him a job? Would you invite him into your home for dinner with the family? I wouldn’t. If he was a long time friend and someone I trusted, someone who supported be in tough times, certainly I would have their back. I’m not doing that for someone I have no history with.
efactor
Footballguy
He said he didn’t do it the entire time. Supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Too many lives ruined with false accusations.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
So if you met someone a month ago and they told you they were innocent but they were the subject of a police investigation and were likely being charged with rape/murder/armed robbery/whatever that’s horrible, you would take their word on it and invite them over dinner with your family, offer them a job? I wouldn’t.
imagine you hired a qualified candidate who seemed great and was doing a good job, and then a random person accused them of a crime without any substantiation. Would you fire them immediately?
efactor
Footballguy
Yes, he would. As would the Bills apparently
efactor
Footballguy
I doubt part of being on a professional football team is coming over for dinner with the owners, coach or GMs family. However, I wouldn't fire them until all the facts came out. I guess you believe in the guilty until proven innocent mantra
Wise Old Owl
Footballguy
Chris Kluwe was cut by the Vikings for supporting same-sex marriage and calling out homophobes. Gruden cut Marquette King because he didn't like his dancing. Most teams view punters as a disposable commodity and do not want any sort of attention drawn by them, especially negative attention. Pat McAfee talks about when he was growing as a social media presence the Colts PR sent someone to tell him to tone down his Twitter or he would be cut.
I'm not surprised Bills didn't wait to see if he was guilty or not. These teams, like most major companies, protect their brand above all else. If you're the face of a franchise, like Big Ben or Ray Lewis, the media machine will work to protect and rehabilitate your image. No one is going to bat for a rookie 6th round punter. Maybe it shouldn't work that way but its a reality in most businesses, not just the NFL.
I'm not surprised Bills didn't wait to see if he was guilty or not. These teams, like most major companies, protect their brand above all else. If you're the face of a franchise, like Big Ben or Ray Lewis, the media machine will work to protect and rehabilitate your image. No one is going to bat for a rookie 6th round punter. Maybe it shouldn't work that way but its a reality in most businesses, not just the NFL.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Many teams see themselves as a bit of a family. Players wives and kids are around. They travel together, room together, etc.
What if it was an employee who hadn’t worked an actual day of work for you yet and was simply in the training phase? Also he was training for the least important and most easily filled position. It’s fine if you would stick up for him and keep him around, I don’t think I would. Just not worth it.
Don Quixote
Footballguy
NFL teams only carry one punter on their roster. Do you want a guy taking up roster/salary cap space who carried chance of criminal charges and suspension?
Instead, they were able to sign Sam Martin immediately after they cut Araiza (Martin kicked well for them and they re-signed him for 2023) — if they waited, could have been left holding the bag and without a punter come playoff season if the investigation went the other way, as Martin likely would have been picked up by another team by then.
Instead, they were able to sign Sam Martin immediately after they cut Araiza (Martin kicked well for them and they re-signed him for 2023) — if they waited, could have been left holding the bag and without a punter come playoff season if the investigation went the other way, as Martin likely would have been picked up by another team by then.
IvanKaramazov
Footballguy
Zow
Footballguy
I'll pass along to my colleagues in the respective prosecutor's offices here that Ivan from the internet calls them "evil."
(To be clear, I don't inherently disagree with you and would note that these situations are usually resolved with a plea to a lesser charge and without sex offender registration, and that such an act is not unlawful in many other states).
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
You're leaving out major parts of the story here. He did have sexual affairs with an underaged individual AND he lied to the team about it.
Even innocent of the charges that came up that still may be cut worthy. And the bigger issue is that the dude was getting caught in a lie in the middle of an investigation so I'm sure that made it difficult for the Bills to trust him when he said he was innocent.
The dude still screwed up in several ways, just not the really big way.
efactor
Footballguy
The story I read from earlier this month says he denies having sex with her at all. If he did, then, yeah, that's a different story but seems that if he did and since she was underage, it would be odd for the police to not file charges against him
rockaction
Footballguy
Chris Kluwe sucked as a punter and was lucky to hold on to his job. I followed his career. His avg. and net were very weak, among the bottom three in the league, IIRC. He was terrible. Not because he supported those things, but he got cut because he sucked rather than any political stance he held.
rockaction
Footballguy
Good. Sign him.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
I am 90% sure the cops had the girl call him and recorded it. He admitted to having sex with her on the phone.
efactor
Footballguy
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Because many prosecutors won’t bring charges on such a small age difference. I don’t think they consider 17-21 too far of a mental gap that it deserves jail time. I am guessing they are choosing to focus on the people who forced her to have sex and recorded it.
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
Additionally there are several witnesses that claim the girl was lying about her age and telling people she was 18.
Regardless, getting back to the original point, we can see how the Bills got skittish when Araiza's story changed from "I didn't have sex with that underage girl" to "Okay I had sex with that underage girl, but I didn't rape her" and decided to just move on.
GroveDiesel
Footballguy
From what I’ve read, the law in CA is written so that an adult is protected in the case where someone underage lies about their age. I’m not sure if that can apply to whether charges are brought at all or whether it’s supposed to be an affirmative defense that applies at trial (and I have no desire to have underage sex laws in my Google history), but they did seem to have quite a few people indicating that the girl in this situation was telling everyone she was 18.
Brunell4MVP
Footballguy
All charges dropped today by the complainant. No admission of guilt nor payments to the woman. He also drops his defamation suit against her, but retains the right to sue her lawyer. Basically a guys career ended for having sex with a woman that lied about her age and seemingly his involvement in anything else that happened. Whether getting money from it was her idea or the lawyers, and what else happened that night unrelated to Araiza, remains at issue
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