Rape case documents to be seen
Judge agrees to unseal search warrants and more from San Diego police investigation.
SAN DIEGO — A San Diego Superior Court judge has agreed to unseal 10 search warrants and supporting documents served during a police investigation into a teen’s allegations that she was raped in 2021 by members of the San Diego State University football team.
Judge Jeffrey Fraser on Friday agreed to unseal the warrants at the request of the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and other local media outlets, including CBS 8, Fox 5, KPBS, NBC San Diego and 10News.
The documents are expected to be released within two weeks, giving the San Diego County district attorney’s office time to make redactions, including the names of the accuser, who was in high school at the time, 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.
Former SDSU football players Matt Araiza, Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko and Zavier Leonard are publicly named in a civil suit filed last year by the young woman, who is now 18.
San Diego police investigated the allegations for several months.
Last year, Dist. Atty. Summer Stephan’s office declined to file charges in the case, citing “no path to a potential criminal conviction.”
The civil suit remains intact.
The district attorney’s office has until Wednesday to consider whether to appeal the judge’s decision to unseal findings from a sexual assault exam on the teen, 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 lawsuit, the assault occurred at a party early Oct. 17, 2021, at a College Area home. The accuser was 17 and a high school senior.
In the suit, she 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 he is innocent, the accusations are false, and 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. He said he had pushed for the earliest trial date possible.
“We want Matt to get back on the football field,” Semerdjian said. “We feel confident he is going to prevail.”
He said Araiza is not going to settle the case.
“He feels strongly about his lack of liability, and he wants to go to trial,” the attorney said.
Neither Ewaliko nor Leonard remain on the Aztecs football team.
Attorney Marc Carlos, who represented Ewaliko in the criminal investigation, declined to 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 was represented by an attorney in the civil case.