New York Times: A Star Player Accused, and a Flawed Rape Investigation
And I use the term 'investigation' incredibly loosely here.
About the Tally PD investigation
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 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.
They just missed all the basic fundamental stuff that you are supposed to do, Mr. Meggs said in a recent interview. Even so, he cautioned, a better investigation might have yielded the same result.
University administrators, in apparent violation of federal law, did not promptly investigate either the rape accusation or the witnesss admission that he had videotaped part of the encounter.
Records show that Florida States 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.
When The Times asked Mr. Winston for an interview, an Atlanta lawyer advising his family, David Cornwell, responded, We dont 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.
About a similar case at FSU to the Winston case from last October
Officer Pates blunt interviewing style did not help, the student said. The first thing he asked me, she recounted, was if I was sure this was rape or if I just didnt want a baby or wanted the morning after pill. He also made comments, she said, like, Are you sure you want to file a report? It will be very awkward, especially for a female.
In his complaint to the police, the father wrote that Officer Pate had suggested that an investigation would be futile, as this kind of stuff happens all the time here. The family also said the police had focused more on the accuser than on the accused.
About FSU:
According to an internal Tallahassee police email on Jan. 23, 2013, one officer wrote that Officer Angulos backup on the case received a call from the Athletic Directors Assistant inquiring about the case.
This knowledge should have set off an inquiry by the university. According to federal rules, any athletic department official who learns of possible sexual misconduct is required to pass it on to school administrators. Florida State declined to respond when asked if top officials, including the university president, had been informed of the encounter.
It was not just the Winston case that was causing concern on campus. In January, the mother of a student who said she had been sexually battered at a fraternity the previous April contacted the campus police asking why the university doesnt do more to protect women from rape, records show. The police response was to inform the mother of a self-defense class for students.
A decade before the Winston case, the inspector general found that Florida State had violated its policy when the athletic department failed to inform the campus police of a rape accusation against one of its standout football players. Mr. Ruiz, the former prosecutor who handled the case for the state attorneys office, recalled that the coach at the time, the revered Bobby Bowden, attempted to convince him that a crime had not occurred. A jury eventually acquitted the player.
I learned quickly what football meant in the South, said Mr. Ruiz, who grew up in New York State. Clearly, it meant a lot. And with respect to this case I learned that keeping players on the field was a priority.
The article goes into great depth about the absolute failure of the Tallahassee Police Department as well as Florida State officials to not only investigate this appropriately, but also in their absolute failures to follow legal federal procedures.
Comments
[yawn]
I hope everyone will pardon me if I withhold judgement on Winston until I see facts rather than allegations.
Although I do take issue with this statement from his lawyer:
You don't need an investigation to have an opinion on Jameis's guilt or innocence. You most certainly do need one if you want to come close to knowing it for a fact.
Since it was the alleged defender's lawyer, it was his job to say that. It is exactly what a defense lawyer's job is to say. I have no problem with him saying it. Anybody else in the process would raise questions. Him? I would have questions if he said anything else.
I agree that's his job to say stuff like that.
I was hoping to demonstrate that I can differentiate that bit of p/r from reality in order to highlight that indeed, I am withholding judgement. Downvotes tend to flow freely on this topic if you aren't careful in how you voice your doubts.
Edited to add: And there it is - The first down-vote from someone who apparently thinks my first comment is pro-rape. Doesn't matter how much you state you are trying to be objective, some people just insist that you must agree with their opinions, or you must be punished.
I evened it out for you. I thought your first comment was spot on. I get that the defense attorney is "supposed" to say that type of thing, doesn't make it any less repugnant however in my opinion.
dude, you are so sensitive to downvotes. i mean you really take it tough. it'll be ok bro.
...because tenor is so easy to discern on a comment board, amiright?
can be yuh
Hard to get facts when the Tally PD willingly delayed the investigation to the point where facts would not be possible to get.
They got the initial report from the victim. 2 months later, without speaking with the victim, or following up to get a security tape at the bar where it happened, or without following up with the taxi company to get payment records, or even following up with FSU to try and find out who the football playing "Chris" was, the lead investigator suspended the case, and blamed the victim for not cooperating. Mind you, a month prior to the case being suspended, she called them to identify Winston as the attacker, as she saw him in class. Still took the investigator another 2 weeks to follow-up with Winston, who refused to talk, and then had his lawyer call up the police dept, at which point, the case was suspended. Mind you, during this time, the accusing attorney was asking for Winston's DNA to be taken, to which the TPD not only did not do, but didn't even bother returning calls.
This whole situation reeks. It reeks bad. And from the article, this is the standard operating procedure for the Tally PD when it comes to rapes, especially with the football program. Bully the victim into not pressing charges, and if they do, just ignore it til it goes away.
Agreed that from your description, it does sound like a bad situation procedurally.
I tend to take anything the NYT prints with a grain of salt. They veered from objective journalism to duplicitous advocacy starting at least with with Walter Duranty, and haven't really changed since.
The press adores its designated victims, and objectivity is the first casualty when the media feeding frenzy starts. "If it bleeds, it leads".
If the Duke Lacrosse case taught us anything, high among the lessons is that we should show proper skepticism of the press when it stakes out a position of advocacy where the facts are not known.
Its not very often though that the Department of Education opens a Title IX investigation into a school for sexual crimes issues. This is the second time in a 15 year span that FSU is being investigated along these lines.
We had another thread that discussed that investigation earlier.
An investigation is not proof of guilt, regardless of which level of government is performing it.
That seems self-evident to me, at least.
Most people aren't suggesting that Winston is guilty, but that the school/Tally PD butchered the investigation so badly, that a fair trial couldn't possibly happen.
This then raises the question: Are FSU and the Tally Police inept or corrupt? This is a valid question.
or both
There might be facts if any of the cops did their jobs. Personally, I think he raped her. I mean there are quotes from the girl saying that she was incoherent and that she told him to stop among plenty of other circumstantial things. Do I think he'll ever get convicted, though? Not a chance.
There were also reports that her toxicology tests showed she wasn't legally drunk and there were no drugs in her system.
The victim is due diligence. It's not about whether or not she was raped, the TPD and courts owed the victim their best. They failed, and although it is not a crime, it's a big deal when it comes to protecting woman's rights. This is a huge issue. I imagine that this will become the poster board of a movement to protect women rights in the football-centric South.
Point made, but it's not just the South. Similar incidents at Mizzou (which I still don't consider "South" really) and Notre Dame ended up with the victim taking her own life.
This is very true. All BCS-level football teams probably have similar problems. My comment suggesting the South was merely a reflection of Mr. Ruiz's comments from the article, not really my own opinion.
I'm sure anyone can figure there are probably some politics behind this article. An NYTimes damning the South... but I digress.
As others have commented, you'll be withholding judgment for the rest of time because the ability to gather facts was severely impeded by the police department and administration. I agree that you certainly can't convict Winston of a crime with the evidence available, but none of the evidence is compels me to conclude that he didn't commit rape either.
The sad truth of all this is that it seems to demonstrate how our society treats accusers, especially women, in the event of potential criminal activity. Women are victims of these types of crimes far more often than any just person would find acceptable, and their claims are commonly met with gaslamping, strong "urging" not to pursue charges, and ultimately sweeping it under the rug. While not a woman, I have personally experienced police urging me not to press charges against someone, and it's far from a good feeling when you are the victim of a crime and law enforcement tries to persuade you from doing what you know is right rather than making you feel safe.
What sickens and disappoints me the most about this whole thing is just how much its clear that the TPD just doesn't take rape seriously, especially when it involves football players.
The investigating officer, in 2 months after the victim reported the rape, never seriously followed up on any leads. Not once. When he did, he called and left messages, but never appeared in person. He called the cab company weeks after the fact, and couldn't get records. He never contacted the bar to get security footage of the night it happened. He never followed up with FSU to get the information about this "Chris". When the victim straight up accused Winston, he took 2 weeks to call up Winston on the phone, which gave him the time to call a lawyer to stonewall the little investigation that was done. When he finally did speak with the roommate Chris, and found out there was a phone with a recording on it but it was replaced, he never asked what Chris did with the old one. And he refused to take a DNA sample of Winston despite the accusers attorney demanding it.
Had he followed procedure and investigated immediately, he would have had video evidence showing the accuser at the bar. We would have been able to see how she went from hanging out with her girls to going home with guys she didn't know. We would have had the taxi payment records showing who was in the car with her. We would have had the recorded act itself from Chris' phone. But we didn't get any of that. Both parties involved here should be pissed off that nothing was done. If this chick really was drunk as a skunk and is just going for the money, the evidence would have shown it, but the investigator never even tried.
Due process was never granted in this case. The lead investigator and everyone who signed off on this process should be fired. They have a duty to protect and serve everyone, not just the FSU athletes.
Couldn't have said it better. Bravo.
I completely agree. Any person should find this degree of indifference and inaction by those tasked to protect and serve to be deplorable. Sadly, I'm no longer convinced that this is an uncommon practice in cases like this.
The article is not about judging Winston. It is criticism of the investigation, or lack thereof, by both the police and the university. They interfered with getting the facts so we will never really know if Mr. heisman did something wrong.
The fact of the matter is that we will never know what happened, and will never know what happened. Tallaclassy police covered/pushed/broomed/ swept a mix of facts/evidence under the rug to make it unclear. They knew what would happen if the real facts came out. Think of all the $ they would lose, the new uniforms, booster donations, recruits ect ect. In the end it doesn't surprise me at all, I have been to Tallaclassy and its an absolute.....
The last sentence really isn't necessary. While I don't disagree with you on the rest of your assertions, the last statement puts an entire towns worth of people into a class that if you had a daughter you would probably take offense to.
There was a lot worse said in the WVU thread. Is the comment in bad taste? sure, but I don't think he is literally meaning every single person there falls into those categories. I'm not going to upvote the comment but I think, despite it being poorly phrased, he is essentially saying the same thing you did about WVU.
Something I did upvote and believe is an extremely well phrased depiction of certain fan bases and the cities they reside. Morganhole and Tallaclassy being two apt examples.
I loved the Tallaclassy piece of gold, just not the S**** use.
removed it! so i agree
So you are saying I shouldn't bring my kids to a FSU or WVU home game?
On the contrary, never too early for kids to learn the perils of a poor education.
in that case, just bring them to any UofL game in the future
kids will be adults by the time we make a trip there...
Football isn't the only sport where we'll have the misfortune of playing them
we will never play fsu.. only ECU ******SARCASTICAAAA****** but true
Good point Fernley..."This is what NOT to do kids!"
A southern university and police force intentionally botched the investigation of one of their best players? Shocker.
Seems to me like the utter failure of the TPD is a failure to protect the rights of not only the accuser but also of the accused.
For the alleged victim in this case, it seems clear that the police did not take the appropriate steps to gather evidence in this case to show conclusively one way or the other what occured. But the flip side of that is that they also failed to gather evidence appropriately that may have exhonerated Winston beyond a shadow of a doubt. Whether he did or did not rape someone at this point is academic, because there will never be anything to prove one way or the other. Unfortunately for him, this also means that there will ALWAYS be people that are convinced he did it.
In that way, the police failed in several ways.
the failed investigation that, lets be honest, occurred in order to protect winston is gonna hurt him for the rest of his life. he's gonna walk around with this until he dies. let's say he is innocent. we'll never truly know either way and people will always talk about how he raped that girl and got away with it.
I disagree. The damage to his reputation, which will prove to be minor if he keeps his nose clean in the future, is utterly dwarfed by the potential physical and emotional damage suffered by a young lady who may have been the victim of rape. Chants, jokes, and vitriol will be directed toward him from time to time from rival fans, but the effects of these allegations were the greatest they will ever be at the time the story broke and, since he was never charged, will only lessen with time. The public has a track record with forgiving/forgetting transgressions of athletes over time.
thats certainly true. from winston's point of view people talking smack while he makes millions is better than doing time in big boy jail. i agree with everything you and alum07 are saying up above. i was just saying that if hypothetically he was in fact innocent then he can never prove that to anyone.
Basically, how I see it, the way it was apparently handled ended up poorly for everyone involved. Regardless of whether Winston is guilty or not it is bad for both him and the woman involved. Now TPD and FSU are in the spotlight for handling it poorly so it is bad for them.
If Winston is guilty: It's bad for him because it sets him up for failure in the future. If he got away with a crime once what's to say he won't try to get away with another crime again. It could escalate and he could get into some major trouble for the same crime or a different one on the same or even higher level. See Hernandez, Aaron.
It's bad for the woman because she was raped and there is absolutely nothing good about that. I don't think I need to elaborate further here.
If Winston is not guilty: It's bad for him because his name has essentially been slandered. He may go on to have a great career and be very successful but this incident will leave an impression on him moving forward. If, for some reason, he's ever implicated in another event in the future he may not get the benefit of the doubt given his alleged history. High profile athletes are constantly in the spotlight and I think it's feasible for someone to see him as a target and accuse him wrongfully of something to see what they can gain from it.
It's bad for the girl because she will always be known for 'crying wolf'. She may also have a tough time building trust in relationships moving forward. If Winston is not guilty, that means that the sex was consensual. If she decided after the fact that she didn't like it or realized it was a terrible idea that is a mistake she will have to live with forever. It was her mistake (I want to emphasize here that I'm not trying to be cynical...this is all hypothetical), whether she wants to admit that or not, and it will likely affect her for the rest of her life. I doubt she would ever view the mistake as a positive influence.
Either way, the TPD and FSU look bad because of the media attention and the way it was apparently 'handled'