Jameis Winston is the current quarterback for the football at Florida State University and is a Heisman Trophy favorite this year. While all that is good to hear the young quarterback was accused of raping a female student and had faced felony charges after the accusations being made almost a year ago.
Initially, the accuser told campus police on the night of the incident, but since it was an off campus incident, it was immediately taken to the Tallahassee police. During the process, the victim's attorneys were critical of them and in turn caused the police to be defensive. In their defense they presented the following timeline:
January 10th- Winston was identified as the alleged attacker (incident happened on 12/7/12)
January 15th- Rape kit was sent to the state crime lab
January 23rd- Winston denied to be interviewed by police
NOTE: The dates are given from last year/early this year
This past February the case was put in an "open/inactive" status because the victim didn't wish to prosecute. However, her attorney denied that she wanted to drop the case. Today, it was announced that the state attorney will not be pressing charges against Winston. However, over the last few weeks the state attorney took a look into the case and interviewed the accuser and a month ago it was reported by ESPN.com that the DNA found in the accuser's underwear was Winston's DNA which is where the disagreement on whether it was consensual or rape.
Keeping all that in mind the state attorney decided today (12/5) that Winston would not be charged. If Winston had been charged with a felony by the state, he would of been suspended from the football team immediately and ineligible under the FSU athletics Department policy.
Winston and the Seminoles need to beat Duke on Saturday for the ACC championship and to get to the BCS National Championship at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 6th. We will find out sometime next week if he will be our next Heisman Trophy winner.
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