Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston will not be charged with sexual assault or any other crime, as first reported on Thursday by 97.9 ESPN Tallahassee’s Jeff Cameron on Thursday. The state attorney held a press conference shortly after the news surfaced.
“We have carefully examined all the evidence in this case and have concluded that no charges will be filed against anyone in this case,” state attorney Willie Meggs confirmed.
Winston was accused of rape by a female student nearly a year ago, and the case has been under investigation for weeks. Last month, the alleged victim claimed (through a statement from her attorney) that Winston raped her and that police discouraged her from pursuing charges against the freshman superstar. Winston’s DNA was also reportedly found on the accuser’s underwear, but Winston’s attorney claimed his client had consensual sex with the 19-year-old woman.
On Thursday, search warrants were released that detailed accusations against Winston from the night of the incident. The accuser allegedly told police that she had five or six shots of alcohol that night and that her “memory is very broken from that point forward.” She claimed that she remembered being in a cab with a black man and taken back to an apartment, where the man began to rape her. The 19-year-old said another man entered the room and told man who was having sex with her — who she later identified as Winston — to stop. She said the two went to the bathroom “where he completed the act.”
The accuser’s blood alcohol level was .040 the night of the encounter. There was no evidence of any drugs having been in her system. Meggs also said that the state attorney’s office did not consider charging the accuser with filing a false report.
After reviewing all of the information, investigators have either determined that there is not enough information to get a conviction or that the accuser lied.
