RECORDS IN SDSU RAPE CASE TO OPEN

Search warrants, other documents are ordered by judge to be unsealed

A San Diego Superior Court judge on Friday agreed to unseal 10 search warrants and supporting documents police served during an investigation into a teenager’s allegations that she’d been raped in fall 2021 by then-members of San Diego

State University’s football team.

Judge Jeffrey Fraser unsealed the warrants at the request of The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, and other local media outlets including CBS 8, Fox 5, KPBS, NBC San Diego and 10News.

The unsealed documents are expected to be released within a week or two in order to give the county District Attorney’s Office time to make a few redactions, including the names of the then-high school student who made the allegations and witnesses under the age of 18. The names of two people identified as former suspects will also be redacted. Their names have not been made public in filings.

The names of three other former potential suspects will not be stricken. Punter Matt Araiza and red-shirt freshman Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko and Zavier Leonard are publicly named in a civil suit the teen — who is now age 18 — filed last year.

San Diego police investigated the allegations for several months. Last year, District Attorney Summer Stephan’s office declined to file charges against anyone, citing “no path to a potential criminal conviction.” The civil suit remains intact. The delayed release of the search warrants and supporting affidavit gives the District Attorney’s Office until Wednesday to consider whether to appeal the judge’s decision to unseal findings from the sexual assault exam the teen girl underwent, including DNA results.

Asked about the judge’s decision to unseal the warrants, attorney Dan Gilleon, who represents the young woman in her civil suit, texted: “Good.”

As for the release of the sexual assault exam and results, Gilleon said, “We support all of the facts coming out.”

According to the young woman’s lawsuit, the incident happened at a Halloween party held at a College Area home early on Oct. 17. She was 17 years old and a high school senior at the time.

In her suit, the woman said that Araiza, then 21, had sex with her in a side yard of the residence before bringing her into a bedroom where she said a group of men took turns raping her.

In court documents filed in the civil case, Araiza said that he is innocent, the accusations are false and that any contact between him and the woman was consensual.

The Buffalo Bills drafted Araiza last year before the allegations were made public. In August, after he was named in the civil suit, the team released him.

On Friday, Araiza’s attorney Dick Semerdjian said a trial date was set for October, and that he pushed for the soonest trial date they could get.

“We want Matt to get back on the football field,” Semerdjian said. “We feel confident he is going to prevail.”

He also said Araiza is not going to settle the case. “He feels strongly about his lack of liability and he wants to go to trial,” Semerdjian said.

Neither Ewaliko nor Leonard remain on the Aztec football team.

Attorney Marc Carlos, who represented Ewaliko in the criminal investigation declined comment. Ewaliko’s attorney in the civil case did not immediately return a call for comment Friday afternoon.

Leonard could not be reached for comment, and it was not clear if he represented by an attorney in the civil case.