Jameis Winston: Do his current problems mean that prosecutors, Florida State, should not have let him off for the rape charge?

… how do athletes manage to slide off when they are guilty?

ESPN reported earlier this week that Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston was going to be suspended for at least three games this season. The reason is that he has violated the NFL’s personal conduct policy with his behavior toward a Uber driver in 2016.

Citing “league sources,” the network said, “Although the alleged incident occurred in March 2016, it did not surface until BuzzFeed reported the accusation in November 2017. The NFL initiated its investigation -- with [Lisa] Friel at the forefront of it -- and the Buccaneers have been waiting to hear from the league."

According to the Uber employee, “... Winston ‘just grabbed my crotch’ and kept his hand there for several seconds as they waited in a drive-through lane at a Mexican restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona, in March 2016. The quarterback was banned from Uber after the driver filed a complaint with the ride-sharing service. However, no police charges were filed, and Winston has denied the allegations," according to the Washington Post. While doing well enough for the Bucs, Winston has a reputation as a sleazy character. He had a number of situations in which he skated on the periphery while in college, but none was as bad as the rape allegations made against him while playing at Florida State. The dismissal of those charges by both prosecutors and the school show that perhaps the charges levied by the young woman were true.

The rape allegations

In 2012, before Winston became a star quarterback who eventually won the Heisman Trophy and a national title, he and Erica Kinsman met at a nightclub in Tallahassee. She detailed her experience in 2015 in a haunting film entitled “The Hunting Ground” about sexual assaults on campuses.

The problem started when he secured a shot that he wanted to share with her. “I’m totally certain something was in that drink,” Kinsman said in the movie. She then went to his apartment, something that she called “uncharacteristic” for her, attributing that to being drugged.

Kinsman later recalled what happened when they reached his apartment. “He was on top of me and I couldn’t really breathe,” Kinsman said, according to the Washington Post.

A roommate came into the room and tried to stop him, but he then took her from his bedroom to the bathroom, where he locked the door and the rape allegedly occurred.

According to the Post, “ ‘He pushed his hand over my face and pushed my face to the floor,’ she said, recalling the floor was tile. She said he dressed her and told her it was time to leave after he was done. She said she agreed to let Winston take her home on his scooter, but said she instructed him to let her off at an intersection, so he wouldn’t know where she lived. She then said she sought help and went to the hospital where a rape kit was performed, but not analyzed until months later.”

Kinsman did not know that he was a quarterback with the football team until months later. The charges did not become public until about a year later, and after they were filed, the woman was harassed so much that she had to leave the school and attend another school.

Police, prosecutor, FSU woeful investigations

The prosecutor announced that he would not be filing charges against the star QB, who by then had won the Heisman as the top college player. The school later said that he would not be disciplined, either. However, an extensive investigation by the New York Times indicated this: “In his announcement, the prosecutor, William N. Meggs, acknowledged a number of shortcomings in the police investigation. In fact, an examination by The New York Times has found that there was virtually no investigation at all, either by the police or the university,” the Times wrote. In fact, the police never even questioned Winston.

The Times analysis noted, “The police did not follow the obvious leads that would have quickly identified the suspect as well as witnesses, one of whom videotaped part of the sexual encounter. After the accuser identified Mr. Winston as her assailant, the police did not even attempt to interview him for nearly two weeks and never obtained his DNA. The detective handling the case waited two months to write his first report and then prematurely suspended his inquiry without informing the accuser. By the time the prosecutor got the case, important evidence had disappeared, including the video of the sexual act.”

Florida State did little, too

Colleges today are under more pressure to investigate these incidents, but legally, they were supposed to be doing that in 2013, too. According to the Times, “University administrators, in apparent violation of federal law, did not promptly investigate either the rape accusation or the witness’s admission that he had videotaped part of the encounter. Records show that Florida State’s athletic department knew about the rape accusation early on, in January 2013, when the assistant athletic director called the police to inquire about the case. Even so, the university did nothing about it, allowing Mr. Winston to play the full season without having to answer any questions. After the championship game, in January 2014, university officials asked Mr. Winston to discuss the case, but he declined on advice of his lawyer.”

Because of this and other behavior at Florida State, Winston has been ranked in the 25 top sleaziest characters in sports in a national publication. The Times attempted to interview Winston for the story, but he was not talking. Obviously, the NFL investigators must not have believed him this time around. “ When The Times asked Mr. Winston for an interview, an Atlanta lawyer advising his family, David Cornwell, responded, ‘We don’t need an investigation, thorough or otherwise, to know that Jameis did not sexually assault this young lady.’ Mr. Cornwell, who has represented major sports figures and the N.F.L., added, ‘Jameis has never sexually assaulted anybody’.”

Today, that seems unlikely since his sleazy reputation has preceded him everywhere. 

Kinsman was eventually given almost a million dollars to settle a lawsuit against the university. Her suit against Winston was settled out of court, but details were never revealed.

Why does everyone believe athletes?

This goes back to something I posted on the blog a while back. It was a story about a woman from Penn State who alleged that she was raped by a famous Penn State player and his brother. When she went to tell the police about the incident after being treated at a hospital, the officer said something to this effect, “Look, honey. I am not going to file charges in this case. These guys are heroes in this town. If I put you on a stand and then them, who are they going to believe?” 

That logic is the problem with sexual assault today, and the difficulty with athletes in this area. Until the Ray Rice assault and abuse of his wife was recorded on video, the NFL routinely swept these cases under the carpet. After the outcry in that case, their approach changed.

Colleges, on the other hand, have not. That is the sad part of the entire Winston story. These players are treated as royalty, while the focus of those schools should be on academics, not on athletics.