Arizona QB Jayden de Laura remains on team after settling sexual assault case in civil court
May 5, 2023, 4:05 PM
Wildcats quarterback Jayden de Laura is entering the transfer portal. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Arizona Wildcats quarterback Jayden de Laura will remain on the football team after settling a sexual assault case in civil court, the school’s athletic department announced Friday.
“In the fall of 2022 after a civil complaint was filed against football student-athlete Jayden de Laura, the University of Arizona first become aware of a 2018 incident involving de Laura which occurred while he was in high school in Hawaii,” it said in a statement.
“After reviewing the matter, the determination was made to allow de Laura to continue as a student-athlete and his status remains unchanged.”
de Laura and his high school teammate, current Wisconsin safety Kamoi Latu, agreed to settle a civil lawsuit over a sexual assault case that was initially handled in juvenile court, according to HawaiiNewsNow.com.
The two St. Louis School (Honolulu) teammates were accused of raping a woman in October 2018, when the victim was 16.
She is now 20. De Laura is currently 21.
The first complaint in the civil court case was filed in December 2021.
The victim was described in court documents as an acquaintance of de Laura and Latu. With a mother and friend while in high school, she drove to St. Louis School after a football game to give the players lei while supporting the football team.
De Laura asked her via text message where she was and then asked her to meet him in a stairwell of a parking garage to talk to her. The victim did so with her mom and friend waiting in the car.
Per HawaiiNewsNow.com:
The court records say Latu was in the stairwell waiting with de Laura, who “demanded” the she “engage in sex with the two of them simultaneously, immediately.”
She refused, according to the complaint.
The document then goes into graphic detail, saying the players “physically overpowered her” and that de Laura was “holding her head from behind and pushing it down” on Latu.
De Laura “began choking her to gain her cooperation” as he assaulted her, according to the court record which says the victim was “sobbing uncontrollably in fear and anger”.
The case was initially handled in juvenile court, which rarely makes documents public.
The civil court complaint said the players were charged and pleaded guilty in the juvenile court to sexual assault 2 and added that neither de Laura nor Latu served jail time. They were required to write an apology letter to the girl.
The defendants’ families settled with the girl late last year after a private mediation, according to HawaiiNewsNow.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
