Two more ex-Aztec football players settle civil suit alleging rape on Elcajon News only

Two former San Diego State University football players have settled a civil suit brought by a woman who accused them of raping her at a 2021 house party off-campus, leaving one remaining defendant when the trial is scheduled to start next month.

The woman’s attorney made the announcement Friday during a status conference in San Diego Superior Court. The terms of the settlements with the two former players — Zavier Leonard and Jaiden Brown — were not disclosed during the hearing, nor were terms mentioned in court documents the woman filed last month asking to have Brown dismissed from the case. As of Friday, there were no documents in the court’s online file indicating the settlement with Leonard.

The settlements come a year after the woman dropped from the case its most high-profile defendant: star punter Matt Araiza, who fought the allegations, insisting he had left the party before the alleged incident.

One final former player — Nowlin Pa’a Ewaliko — remains in the case, which is slated to go to trial in January. The woman’s attorney, Dan Gilleon, told Superior Court Judge Matthew Braner that Ewaliko did not show up for his deposition and said he intends to pursue a default judgment against Ewaliko.

Court records indicate that neither Brown, Ewaliko nor Leonard is represented by an attorney.

None of the three — Ewaliko, Brown or Leonard — could be reached or agreed to comment. Leonard’s mother said, “We are happy to have it over and done with, and he can move on with his life.”

In the lawsuit, the woman alleged she was intoxicated at an off-campus house party when she was led into a bedroom and raped by multiple men in October 2021, when she was 17 years old and a high school senior. The men she accused have said any encounter with her was consensual.

San Diego police detectives investigated for nine months. The District Attorney’s Office later announced it would not file a criminal case.

While police were still investigating, the woman filed her civil suit. It eventually came to include five defendants — all had been freshmen in fall 2021, except for Araiza, then a standout senior whose punting skills later led to a national collegiate award and a sixth-round NFL draft pick with the Buffalo Bills. The team cut him after the lawsuit was filed.

Araiza said he and the woman had a consensual encounter in a side yard outside the home earlier that night, but he had left the party before the alleged incident occurred in a bedroom in the home. Police later found several short cellphone video clips of the alleged bedroom encounter. Araiza does not appear in any of them.

The woman dropped the case against Araiza last year, and no money changed hands. Araiza accused the woman’s attorney of malicious prosecution and settled with the attorney earlier this year. In February, Araiza signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.

One of the other four defendants could not be found to be served legal documents and was later dropped from the suit.