Matt Reigle
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The attorney representing Matt Araiza’s accuser joined OutKick’s Hot Mic With Hutton & Withrow to discuss the civil case being pursued against the former Buffalo Bills punter.
Attorney Dan Gilleon is representing the woman — identified only as Jane Doe — as civil litigations surrounding a gang rape that allegedly occurred while Araiza was still attending San Diego State University continue.
Araiza appeared on OutKick’s Tomi Lahren Is Fearless on Thursday. He discussed the accusation against him. While Araiza was never criminally charged, the Bills released him last year.
Gilleon didn’t seem pleased with Araiza’s recent media appearances. He questioned why the 23-year-old would be taking a “victory lap.”
Listen to Gilleon’s full interview on Hot Mic With Hutton & Withrow here:
“What you’ve heard is Matt Araiza going around and taking a victory lap for a variety of things he seems to think is important,” Gilleon said. “Like there was an audio (recording) that his agent leaked out where a prosecutor made a comment about him not being present at the time of the gang rape. He thinks that’s apparently exoneration.”
Gilleon slammed Araiza’s recent string of media appearances.
“I can’t make heads or tails of what’s going on with him,” Gilleon said. “The video I saw of it; what I saw was a very arrogant, sexist young man, who has been scripted on how to answer questions. Probably went outside the script because he said a number of things that are factually untrue, but I don’t know. This is not normally how cases in civil litigation go.”
Gilleon Responded To Araiza’s Interview With Tomi Lahren
Gilleon responded to a clip from Araiza’s interview with Tomi Lahren in which he expressed an unwillingness to settle because doing so would waive his right to countersue.
“He sounds like a — how old is he now? I don’t know, 23? — he sounds like a 21-year-old still,” Gilleon said.
The attorney said that even before the case received widespread attention, he had reached out to the Bills.
“I sent an email to the Buffalo Bills, and I was like, ‘Hey, isn’t there someone around this kid that is somewhat sophisticated and can talk to him,” Gilleon explained. “I actually said, ‘Doesn’t he have an agent or something that can talk to him?’ And maybe someone did, maybe there’s some adults that are talking to him. …
“He just isn’t dealing with reality right now.”
Gilleon Said This Case Was Investigated More Thoroughly Than Most
While Gilleon appeared to disagree that the prosecutor’s comment about Araiza not being at the party at the time of the incident served to exonerate him, he did say that the case has been investigated more thoroughly than most sexual assaults.
In this case, investigators spent 124 days looking into the case.
Gilleon noted that a victim who admits to having been drunk during an incident makes things much harder for prosecutors.
“When you have a drunk victim — that’s your main witness … you’re going to have difficulty as a criminal prosecutor,” he said. “Most of these cases don’t get charged. Most don’t even get investigated.”
Gilleon said this was because detectives don’t want to waste their time on investigations that will likely not lead to charges.
“So this one was unique in that investigators spent a lot of time and a lot of money trying to find a case that it seems like they believe existed. They just didn’t get their smoking gun and Matt Araiza wouldn’t talk. He asserted the Fifth Amendment,” Gilleon said.
“Now he’s talked, after he’s had about a year to get scripted by his lawyers; he’s willing to talk now.”
Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle
“him not being present at the time of the gang rape. He thinks that’s apparently exoneration.”
and???
What a clown this Gilleon is making himself out to be. Obviously he sees the golden goose he hoped for now escaping his grasp. In fact, the latest headline in the San Diego Union Tribune today reads, “SDSU says ‘no findings’ against Araiza in internal investigation into reported off-campus rape”. So yes, why shouldn’t Aaiza take a “victory lap”? The law enforcement investigation revealed that he wasn’t at the location of the party for at least an hour before the alledge incident, among many other exonerating facts.
Disbar
I hope Araiza sues this quack lawyer too.
You know, the DA involved with the Duke lacrosse prosecution ended up being disbarred right before he was sentenced to prison for that false prosecution. The accuser in this case didn’t try to get a criminal prosecution case and settled for a civil case where the preponderance of the evidence is the requirement to win.
There’s a lot of ‘arrogant and sexist young men’ in the world. That doesn’t mean they should be prosecuted for a crime they didn’t commit.
Yeah how arrogant of this “kid” to try to clear his name so he can work and make a living doing the career he has trained so hard for. This attorney is an ass and I hope he faces so repercussions in the form of a counter suite. I wished the Outkick interviewers would have pushed back on him more. Now, unlike the Duke case it does look like there is a crime here…just not by this kid. So it’s not as clear cut of attorney malpractice. Depends what he knew about the facts and how hard to continued to go after the athlete after that fact.