FSU defends its handling of Jameis Winston case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Citing "misinformation in the media" and a desire to "set the record straight," Florida State University issued an open letter to supporters on Friday outlining the school's response to the rape allegation against star football player Jameis Winston.

Winston, who is not named in the letter but referred to as "a prominent athlete," was accused of sexually assaulting a then-student in December 2012. The case came to media attention nearly a year later when allegations that Tallahassee Police slow-footed the investigation came to light. In November 2013, Florida State Attorney Willie Meggs declined to issue charges against Winston citing lack of evidence.

In its statement, FSU says that as soon as the school learned the alleged rape occurred off-campus officials contacted the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) who then took over the case. The school states that it dispatched a victim's advocate to the hospital to meet with the accuser there.

The alleged victim was initially unable to identify her assailant, and according to its statement, FSU did not know Winston was being accused until police called Winston on his cellphone and he notified the Athletics Department, "where officials referred him and his family to a Tallahassee attorney."

"Shortly thereafter, the attorney informed the Athletics Department that TPD was no longer pursuing the case."

Tallahassee Police have been criticized for not properly investigating the allegations against Winston. In fact, in a press conference last year, State Attorney Meggs said he had to send the case back to TPD so they could collect more evidence, and he was unable to explain why police hadn't collected Winston's DNA more than 11 months after he was accused of rape: " "Obviously it would have been better if it had been handled a little earlier."

According to the FSU statement, the university seems to have followed TPD's lead: "The Athletics Department also considered accounts by the athlete and two other FSU student athletes who were present at the encounter. All three independently described it as consensual. Based on that and the TPD's decision, the Athletics Department did not file a report with the University's Title IX administrator or the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities."

Title IX is the federal law prohibiting educational discrimination based on sex.

FSU says that the Title IX office met with Winston in January 2014 but he declined to make a statement. In April the federal Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into how the university had handled the case. The next month, according to the statement, "FSU brought student conduct charges for invasion of privacy against the two athletes who witnessed the sexual encounter."

The statement does not offer detail on these charges or any punishment.

According to the statement, the university attempted to interview "the complainant" over a period of 20 months and once they did - on August 6, 2014 - they initiated a Title IX investigation into the case.

Attorneys for the accuser and Winston issued statements Friday as well.

"Given the unanimous rejection of her story by every official entity that has heard or investigated it, [the accuser's] story must be referred to as 'a false allegation of sexual assault,'" said David Cornwell, advisor to Jameis Winston's family.

John Clune, who represents the accuser and her family, blasted back, saying that FSU's timeline is "full of errors" and that "the obvious news in this statement is that senior athletic department officials met with Winston and his lawyer one month after the rape occurred then decided to hide it from the Title IX office."