David Hale thinks it’s time for Jameis Winston to mature and that yesterday’s embarrassment should serve as a wake up call. With all due respect to David, it’s hard to see the incident serving like that when Winston’s never really been held accountable for much of anything.
In fact, it was just last August when Winston was grilled by reporters about the off-field antics of the previous Heisman winner, Johnny Manziel. Winston joked then that, should he repeat Manziel’s off-field blunders, reporters should smack him in the head with their recorders.
The quote was an early taste of Winston’s gregarious personality and charm that endeared him to the college football world for the next few months. Since allegations of a sexual assault first came to light in November 2013, however, the tone surrounding the star quarterback has changed dramatically.
After an extensive investigation by the Florida state attorney, no charges were brought against Winston for the alleged sexual assault, but the police reports and witness affidavits painted a less-than-favorable picture of the star QB.
During the course of the investigation, reports also surfaced that Winston had been in trouble with police for his role in a BB-gun fight and theft of soda at a local restaurant.
Earlier this month, The New York Times also published a report that another woman had sought counseling after a sexual encounter with Winston. The woman did not suggest a crime had occurred, but she said she was shaken by the experience.
Consequences? Nothing that registers.
It is important to note that, given all that history, Winston has never been arrested. The latest shoplifting incident, which left Winston suspended from Florida State’s baseball team and will require restitution to the supermarket, as well as community service, is the first time the quarterback has faced any significant punishment for his alleged actions.
The school and the community are enablers. Does 20 hours of community service and repaying 32 bucks now serve as a shock to the kid’s system when he’s been allowed to dodge responsibility repeatedly? Color me skeptical.
Get The Picture 
It’s cool guys. I mean I walk out of places all the time forgetting to pay. Especially when I’m carrying a bag of crab legs or groceries.
The issue here is that this is not a case of boys being boys or kids being kids. Stealing and rape are 2 of the worst crimes a person can commit. The kid does both and has to suffer through an entire 20 hour of community service. I wonder if the 3rd string QB there could have gotten off for that? It is alright though, why not teach kids that if you are important enough the rules matter less and less.
LikeLike
Let’s not assume that, because he was accused of rape, he is a rapist. The Duke lacrosse players were also accused of rape.
LikeLike
I’m kind of with you on this. I haven’t read all the gory details, and sure, I can see a scenario where things are glossed over. And then we have the New York Times, which has zero journalistic integrity. There is a lot of doubt to go around, but I can’t say he’s innocent.
What I do think, is the school has handled this very, very poorly, and it seems the kid needs a big kick in the ass for being stupid. I’m not saying he didn’t do it, but I’m not convinced he did either. There are transgressions here, but I have yet to be convinced they’re as heinous as it many are alleging. If the doesn’t get some suspension at the start of the season, at a minimum, then you it’s hard to see Jimbo as having much integrity and he’s treading into Urban Meyer enabling territory.
LikeLike
” I haven’t read all the gory details..”. Maybe you should before you conclude that they are or are not heinous.
LikeLike
Assuming the NY Times article is true, the investigation was certainly handled poorly. However, even if the investigation had been handled perfectly, the end result probably would have been the same. At its heart, this was a “he said/she said” case with no physical evidence that was inconsistent with consensual sex.
LikeLike
Correction. Winston’s roommate video recorded part of the sex on his phone, but deleted it after getting a new phone a few days later. The video may have been crucial and, if the police acted quickly, they might have obtained it.
But, absent the video, there doesn’t appear to be enough to prove a crime occurred.
LikeLike
Agree, we will never know but the facts did not close close to meeting the standard for a guilty verdict. Everyone can have their own opinion about what happened behind those doors, but that could happen to anyone, at anytime. If you consider the he said/she said a draw, the majority of the remaining known facts favor Winston.
Now the shoplifting is different, there is no way he could have left that store and not known he hadn’t paid. I mean think of your own shopping experience, you are in he back of the store in the meat section, then you are walking out the front door. You have to pass by the registers when most others are looking for the shortest line. Then you have some cold seafood that isn’t in a plastic bag? Have you ever had cold, packaged meat of any kind in your hands walking to your car from a supermarket? Then you have to put the meat somewhere in your car for the ride home, you don’t notice that it isn’t in a bad of any type? For him to say he didn’t realize it until he got home is really pretty stupid.
LikeLike
I love the smell of conflicting accountability standards at lunchtime.
LikeLike
I never said that he wasn’t a shoplifter. I simply dispute declaring him a rapist because of an unprosecuted accusation.
LikeLike
That was directed at Mac for laying accountability and malfeasance on a shoplifter but none on the authorities (TPD, Meigs, etc.) for an absolute failure to investigate.so a reasonable determination could have been made on whether or not felony sexual battery charges should have been brought.
A comment like “the majority of remaining known facts favor Winston” reminds me of, “Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”
LikeLike
I know you like to play the role of dumb and dumber here but you shouldn’t mix the stories/facts. How well TPD and Miegs conducted their investigations doesn’t change the fact that nothing has been shown that indicates rape, only the “she said” part. I couldn’t vote to convict him of rape, nor should anyone else, based on that. I could convict him of shoplifting based on what has been reported. Let’s stay on point. If you have an issue with TPD or the State of Florida’s attorney, that wouldn’t be surprising, but is irrelevant to the discussion. If you have additional evidence on the rape case you should drive over to Tally and hand it over, otherwise you should stop acting as if you know something that has not been made public.
LikeLike
“otherwise you should stop acting as if you know something that has not been made public.”
You’ve got exclusive rights to that territory.
LikeLike
No, that is reserved for you leftists dreamers, DIF. My opinion is based on what has been made public, yours based on some voodoo ritual so that things can be like you wish them to be. Alas, dreamers cannot handle the real world, so they just sit around, hold hands and stick their heads in the sand.
LikeLike
If the investigation had been done properly, the video footage from the bar would have been obtained, and the cab driver would have been interviewed the following day. If either suggested that she was inebriated, then it would not be “he said/she said”. It would have been strong evidence for rape.
LikeLike
Plus a drug test to see if she was drugged.
LikeLike
She had a rape test at the hospital the same night. I assume that they tested for drugs.
LikeLike
She admits being intoxicated. That isn’t the issue. The issue is consent. Having consensual sex with an intoxicated woman isn’t a crime.
LikeLike
If a women is intoxicated it is not consensual sex.
LikeLike
Then every college-aged male in America is a rapist. We’ll need more jails.
LikeLike
BTW, it’s obviously not a crime because the state attorney has the evidence that she was intoxicated. It’s in the police report. Given the DNA results, law enforcement can easily prove that Winston had sex with an intoxicated woman. And they’re still not prosecuting.
That’s because the issue isn’t intoxication. It’s consent.
Now, there is a certain level of intoxication where a person is no longer capable of consent. But no one has argued that the accuser was that intoxicated. In fact, she herself has argued that she refused consent. If she was sober enough to refuse consent, she was sober enough to consent. So, the question is, did she consent, or not?
LikeLike
No. The question you have put forth is, was she intoxicated beyond the level of consent, not, did she consent.?.
Have you ever been intoxicated and remembered parts, but had to be reminded of other events that you had forgotten? Me too. You are in and out of the state of lucid until your body/mind rests by “passing out”.(deep recovery sleep). The event of consent could easily be remembered before passing out (Jameis had to dress her later).
You bet it’s “She said, he said” and it ought to be heard by a jury. I’m sure there may be 12 nonpartisans in Tallahassee. By the way, the FSU fans I have spoken to think Jameis is a piece of embarrassing shit to FSU. They want him to be indicted and go on trial after Jan. 2015.
LikeLike
When tested, the accuser had a BAC of 0.04%. Extrapolating backwards, her BAC was probably about 0.1% at the time of sex. That’s not particularly drunk.
So, this isn’t a case of a man putting a roofie in a woman’s drink and having sex with her unconscious body. This is a case of a woman having several drinks, returning with a man to his apartment, and having sex. He says it was consensual. She says it wasn’t.
I guess they could go to trial. But the result of the trial would basically boil down to whether the jury thinks that her word against his is enough to overcome reasonable doubt. The prosecutors didn’t like the odds.
LikeLike
so if she’s drunk it automatically becomes rape? why? She could have been into whatever happened and the next day wake up and realizes she acted like a slut and decides to say she was raped so she won’t be judged a slut or whatever reason she comes up with……that’s what this sounds like to me
LikeLike
If you are drunk you are not able to give consent so yes if she is drunk it is rape. Men need to learn getting a girl drunk and having sex is rape.
LikeLike
With realization that there are levels of “drunk” I cannot agree with that. Where is the personal accountability here? We all know it is rape once the female indicates “no” either verbally or by pushing the attacker away. But unless the attacker knows she is beyond the point of being able to make that decision, or did something to incapacitate her, he isn’t guilty of rape, imo. Men don’t “get women drunk”, they do that to themselves.
If I drink too much and drive, I am responsible for what happens afterwards, I cannot blame it on my companions, or the bar, unless they did something to make me drink that 4th or 5th shot. There are degrees of drunkenness, while I don’t think the driving laws deal with this very well, the accuser in this case did not have an exceptionally high level of blood/alcohol and appeared to go willingly to the cab with these three men. It just looks more like a case of “buyer’s remorse” than rape. But to suggest that every situation where a male is drinking with a woman and then has sex can constitute rape is not a reasonable standard.
LikeLike
It is actually the law that if a woman is drunk she is not able to give consent so if a man has sex with her he is committing rape. If a man has character he does not need to be told not to put himself in that situation. If she would say yes there is no reason not to wait until she is sober enough to say yes. College students are required to take classes when they first start college that inform them of this. I don’t know the weight of the girl in question but it doesn’t take near as much alcohol for a girl to be legally drunk. Time affect blood alcohol tests and hers was several hours after the act. Drunk drivers often refused the blow test for the blood alcohol test in the field because the time to get your blood drawn can make a big difference.
LikeLike
That’s not the law. The law is that if a woman is SO DRUNK that she is either unconscious, or can’t control her actions, or can’t resist at all, then it’s sexual battery.
Arguing that men must act as white knights for women who are tipsy, by protecting them from themselves, puts an undue burden on men and infantalizes women. The woman in question didn’t have a BAC of 0.2%. It was 0.1%. That’s legally intoxicated for the purposes of operating a vehicle. But it’s not intoxicated enough that she was helpless.
Her side of the story is even that she resisted the sex and asked Winston to stop. That precludes the state arguing that she was so intoxicated that the sex was, by definition, sexual battery.
LikeLike
http://teenadvice.about.com/od/daterape/a/daterapeguysfyi_2.htm
LikeLike
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0794/Sections/0794.011.html
LikeLike
1c of your post proves my point. It does not day drunk it says under the influence if you have a car accident you be charged with driving under the influence even if you are not legally drunk. Getting a girl tipsy to get her to have sex with you when she would not if she was not under the influence is rape. It may not have been considered that when we were kids but it is now.
LikeLike
You should read the law again. 1c does not pertain to getting tipsy. 1c deals with someone slipping another person an intoxicant without the other person’s knowledge, such as slipping a drug into someone’s drink.
The section pertaining to being voluntarily intoxicated is 1e. That section refers to someone being unconscious, or physically unable to communicate unwillingness to act. So, we’re not talking about having a few drinks. The law requires a victim to be absolutely wrecked in order to claim that intoxicated sex was rape.
Also, as a feminist, I take issue with the notion that a man “gets” a woman drunk. I think women are capable of getting themselves drunk, or keeping themselves sober. Part of being an empowered, 21st century woman is taking responsibility for one’s actions.
LikeLike
Hackerdog I am really surprised to read that you are a women as I didn’t think men could be feminist. Anyone has accountability for drinking too much but the people you are with are also accountable for their actions while with you. I think it is pretty obvious to most men who care whether a women has had too much to drink to really be saying yes. Date rape on college campuses is a huge problem partially because of alcohol. Women usually take less alcohol to be considered under the influence when I was a college student if I drank 1.5 drinks I was considered too impaired to drive I only weighed 90 pounds. At a party with my future husband someone decided it would be fun to spike my drink-not him and when we realized what had happened he was furious. If he had been a different kind of guy I would have in big trouble. As a gentlemen I would expect the line to be drawn the same place they would want it drawn for their sister. If their is any doubt then the answer if no if this was a relationship worth pursuing then talk about the issue when both parties are in control. I don’t have sons but I always advised the friends of my daughters to be very careful and realize that a drunk decision on their part could lead to becoming a father. I am not a feminist but I don’t feel like rape is a feminist issue it is an issue of power. It is nothing to be taken lightly. Only 2% of rape accusations are falsely made. It is a charge that ruins the women’s life too. My youngest daughter was in a sorority with the young woman Ben Roethlisberger sexually assaulted. His actions affected not only that young woman but the lives of all her sorority sisters.
LikeLike
I’m not a woman. But I am a feminist. My definition of a feminist is a person who believes women are capable people who should be treated similarly to men.
So, when men drink and are then held accountable for their actions, I think we should hold women accountable in similar fashion. Just as men don’t expect women to protect them from their own poor decisions, I think women shouldn’t expect men to be required to protect women from their poor decisions.
Legally, it’s quite clear that a woman getting tipsy is not sufficient for sex to be considered criminal, at least in Florida. So, the issue goes beyond legal to a murky moral question. At what point do women cease being responsible for their own actions and the men around them assume responsibility? Do only the men who are directly interacting with the women assume responsibility? If a man is walking down the street in Athens and passes a drunk girl, is he legally responsible for ensuring that she gets home safely and unmolested, even if she protests that she wants to behave differently? That doesn’t seem respectful of women, in general. I think the most fair treatment of both women and men is the way the Florida law is written. If a woman drinks until she is unconscious, or obviously unable to voice, or refuse, consent, then men must back off. Otherwise, let a man take a woman at her word that no means no and yes really does mean yes.
Yes, rape is a serious issue. And yes, false rape accusations are also extremely serious. 2% of rape accusations are provably false. The accusers confess to making false accusations. Some studies estimate that as many as 40% of rape accusations are false. The true number is almost certainly somewhere in between. I honestly don’t know whether this accusation of Winston’s guilt is true or false. But the evidence isn’t strong enough to point to much guilt.
LikeLike
So where does that start, 1st beer, 2nd glass of wine? No male carries a breathalyzer around with them, nor consent forms. Again I ask, where is the personal accountability here for the female who voluntarily takes a drink?
Look, no self respecting male wants to “take” what they want if they are told no but what you are proposing is simply not enforceable, or logical. I am all for holding to strong punishments for rape but lines like the one you would like to draw in this instance is not going to work, nor do I feel they are fair. I am also having a problem with those who would say bumping into female’s breast or rear end constitutes sexual assault by some definitions. While I think most know when things go “too far” between a man and an unwilling female, the law has to be clearly defined to have any respect from citizens. Saying “no” and physically resisting is pretty clear, so is drugging someone without their knowledge, and accosting someone who is passed out/incapacitated. Beyond that it gets pretty murky. Rape is a terrible experience for a female, so is having your life ruined by a false accusation.
LikeLike
I hope you’re not suggesting what it sounds like you’re suggesting here, Mac.
LikeLike
I am not saying “she asked for it” if that is what you think. I don’t agree with Debby’s contention that being under the influence means any sex after that is a rape. Since there are degrees of “under the influence” which I think she is saying begins long before the female is beyond comprehension of a, let’s say, .25. If a female is on a date with, or meets a male in a bar, and has one or more drinks, she is incapable of making an affirmative decision regarding sex. I don’t agree with that at all, but if you assume she is right, where is the female accountability in voluntarily having a drink (s)? Should we outlaw females from consuming any alcohol since they are regarded like Indians were and cannot handle firewater? Unless the male forced her to take alcohol, or drugs, that render her incapable of making a decision to consent to sex, I don’t think that makes he “untouchable” for X number of hours.
I feel dirty if it comes across as being soft about rape, but where is consensual sex and seduction in all of this? That type of definition re-writes the history of mankind. I know perfectly well what I am doing after several drinks and am responsible for decisions I make well beyond .08. How are women different?
LikeLike
You do realize saying “no” doesn’t leave physical evidence but it is still rape, right? If the investigation had been handled perfectly…..I wish.
LikeLike
I realize that. That’s why I wrote that it’s “he said/she said.” Now, if she had been stabbed, or her clothes had been ripped off, that would be physical evidence that supported her claims more than his.
LikeLike
I wonder how he would have fared in Athens.
LikeLike
He would have been bounced out of town after playing with BB guns.
LikeLike
Probably, but I agree with the snark toward the media assessing and tallying his “other crimes”. A BB-gun fight in college? Funny that we never have heard of such hijinks; -so says the press. “Stealing” soda in a condiment container? Haven’t checked lately as to that being a 2-ounce or 4-ounce Biggy. Anyone know? Kids do those things in HS and gradeschool. Dumbasses, Jameis hasn’t grown up. That’s all that the BB-gun and “stealing” soda media articles mean. Every time they publish these pissy little probative articles, they dilute the seriousness of real crime.
He stole from Publix and will continue to be investigated for rape. Public moral outrage grows. If they continue (his actions/public outrage) will they erode cfb, FSU, TPD, Fl and continue further until all universities except Auburn are implicated ? (I know that’s way over the top, but what the hell did you expect from Cojones?)
Pardon me while I go to the patio and take a little glaucoma meds. There, I shall contemplate…..,but I digress……aw,hell, now I forget..
LikeLike
What a joke. Not even a court appearance? Really? “I forgot to pay”?
LikeLike
If this football thing doesn’t work out there is always politics, seems like he is already prepared for that career.
LikeLike
Or maybe he can start a cattle ranch on federal land.
LikeLike
Good idea except for the fact that he does not have all the qualifications needed to become a member of the insane clown posse.
LikeLike
He is auditioning for a bigger stage……….Auburn
LikeLike
And you know Winston has probably shoplifed 300 times previously without getting caught or having it swept under the rug.
LikeLike
That’s what I told my dad last night. The odds that he’s only stolen twice (BK and Publix) and happened to get caught both times are slim to none. He’s probably stolen tons of other times and not been caught. Clearly his moral compass is off, which only darkens the clouds of suspicion about the rape. Not that the two are equivalent in any way, but the thefts speak a lot to his character. I think he’s a pretty good mixture of being dumb and feeling entitled, and that’s a dangerous combination. (I don’t mean “dumb” in terms of academics, just dumb in terms of personal decisions.
LikeLike
It shows he is dishonest and relects on the credibility of his version of events in the rape case.
LikeLike
Assuming that, because someone has stolen a soda from a fast food joint and a couple of pounds of seafood from a grocery store, that means he is more likely to commit rape is a stretch.
LikeLike
That’s not what I said. Clearly, Jameis “I forgot to pay” Winston has no problem lying to police, is a thief and is dishonest. Stealing a soda doesn’t prove that he’s a rapist, but I am much more skeptical of his version of events in the rape case in light of these events.
LikeLike
Lying to police is a time honored tradition in this country. I’ve told a few whoppers in my time. “I had no idea I was going that fast, officer.” “Sorry officer, I didn’t realize you could only drink on campus.” It’s human nature to try to explain away or minimize embarrassing situations.
Yes, it’s bad that he shoplifted. But I don’t think it’s worse because he claims he simply forgot to pay. Just as I don’t think the speeder who claimed to be ignorant of his speed is worse than a guy who readily admits to willfully breaking the law.
LikeLike
During the investigation of an alleged sexual assault reports surfaced that Winston had been in trouble with the police for his role in a BB gun fight and stealing soda from a restaurant??
In Athens both of those are front page news. We cannot even cover up wrong way scootering. At UGA by the time you got to the crab legs it would have been a forth offense and Herbie would have been all over Richt and UGA….if the kid was even still with us.
LikeLike
Very true, I have never understood the media write-ups on driving with an expired driver’s license or unpaid parking tickets. I get that it indicates a certain disrespect for the law but on the inter-webs it gets equated with home invasions and other violent altercations. UGA reporters should have a filter that says some things are just not headline worthy. I consider the BB gun incident in that category unless they were holding someone down and torturing them or shooting a dog.
LikeLike
Yws. In a college town where your star, national championship/Heisman QB runs afoul of the police, it is and should be front-page news. He’s a big publix figures.
LikeLike
Accountable? We’ve reached the point in America whereby someone makes a racial comment (after years of apparent overt racism in his business practice that didn’t bother too many) and gets a lifetime ban from the sport while our SOS calls Israel an Apartheid State and it barely makes a ripple. How is the nuke option jumped on for a stupid comment by a business owner (we don’t hold Washington to a fraction of that standard) while rape cases are allowed to be obfuscated to the point where we’ll never get to the truth? (See IRS). What we really care about is selective and convenient accountability for those we feel morally superior to…and that’s sad.
LikeLike
I don’t think Sterling is a good example. Defending a Federal housing discrimination case is defensible and lacks the jarring vulgarity of a recorded tirade. What’s more, the NBA is overwhelming played by and marketed towards black people. To be so bigoted is detrimental to the well being of the league and the league is effectively a co-op, so tough schnuckies for Sterling.
LikeLike
Sterling is a douchebag slumlord whom it appears the NBA has wanted to get rid of for years. He opened his big mouth and gave them the ammo to get rid of him. Plus, there appears to be an element of selective enforcement and making something bigger going on with Sterling and the NBA, not to mention the media, at work here. Does anybody else get the impression that this was a set-up? But then, I admit to being a conspiracy theorist about most things.
LikeLike
I don’t know but Zapruder is going to have film at 11 of Silver watching himself in Stiviano’s visor
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/29/vanessa-stiviano-visor
LikeLike
oops
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/29/vanessa-stiviano-visor_n_5235680.html
LikeLike
I guess this whole event marks that the times are changing.
If it was 15 years ago, Jameis would have to merely “get the hook-up” from a Publix employee. He could fill up his grocery cart with crab legs galore and rely upon the cashier to only charge him for a pack of gum or some other trivial item.
LikeLike
Obviously this kid has some sort of mental issue or his sense of entitlement has reached extreme levels of no return. His excuse is asinine. But the thing that got me is he really didn’t bother with creating a plausible excuse to begin with. The culture created around this kid has fed a monster and raised a beast. It only raises more eyebrows about the sexual assault case and the abrupt leaving of one Mr. Pruit. It is more to both stories than many of us can even imagine. Unfortunately, we have seen this story many of times and Mr. Winston, if he doesn’t change immediately, will only be a footnote in the next decades 30 for 30 episodes.
LikeLike
The first time I saw one of Winston’s locker room pep-talks I came away thinking that this guy was an entitled jerk and maybe a little daft, too.
LikeLike
Intent is an “element” of the crime of theft in Florida. The prosecutors must prove Winston intended to take the crab legs from Publix without paying and must prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Any question that a Leon County jury might readily find reasonable doubt in any prosecution case against an FSU Heisman Trophy winner?
Winston will be offered diversion and he’ll probably take it. And that will be the end of that.
LikeLike
He’s could end up costing himself some serious cash in the NFL draft. And if he doesn’t somehow start learning from all his “second” chances, he could be facing some actual consequences down the road in life.
LikeLike
Who cares what he does outside the lines?
Just win, baby.
LikeLike
Good job Heisman committee. Good job.
LikeLike
The bar had already been set so low.
LikeLike
They need to do something before they end up with another Hernadez on their hands. A date rape drug or alcohol leaves no evidence of rape. He is “entitled” and takes what he wants. Would any of you defending him want your daughters near him. I know I would not. The only reason his is walking free is because of who he is.
LikeLike
It definitely looks like the police dragged their feet on the investigation. Perhaps they did it to protect the QB. Although, it doesn’t appear that they even identified the accused for a month. So, they didn’t even know who they were protecting.
But, exactly what evidence has been made public that has convinced you that Winston is a rapist?
LikeLike
The fact that she was raped at his residence was enough to give them a clue who it was. They did not get surviellience video from the club. They did not get video from a friend’s phone of the encounter and the friend erased it. If that video had shown it was consensual it would have been kept. He fought giving DNA. I always suspected the Duke case was a fraud but I would bet this happens again. Like I said my daughters would be nowhere near this man.
LikeLike
+1,000,000. He will do it again until he gets caught and is really punished. Right now he thinks he can get away with anything. See Joran van der Sloot.
LikeLike
That’s what Nancy said
“You are saying that the murder victim who endured a brutal beating a super human strangulation where her neck bone was crushed, the room covered in blood, her clothes ripped off of her post mortem and left that way to be found, it’s her fault?!” Grace blasted.
“Sir, you know what, cut his mic, John Ludwick, I reserve this for very very few people, but you sir, are a fool. And what you have said sets victims rights back, hmmm, maybe a couple hundred years, take him off the screen, I don’t wanna look at him anymore!”
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/01/11/furious-nancy-grace-cuts-off-mic-of-joran-van-der-sloots-friend-during-on-air-interview/
LikeLike
I agree that the investigation was shoddy. But you’re assuming that the investigation would have uncovered evidence of rape. That’s not a given. It might have. It might not.
While I haven’t seen any accounts of Winston fighting against giving a DNA sample, I certainly don’t blame him if he was reluctant. If law enforcement were investigating me on suspicion of a crime, I would certainly exercise my rights by refusing to help them incriminate me. Even if I were innocent. Innocent people regret cooperating with police all the time.
Now, none of this is to say I think Winston is a great kid. He may be a colossal jerk. But I haven’t seen enough evidence to convince me that he’s a rapist. The prosecutor in charge of the case concluded there wasn’t even enough evidence to arrest Winston, let alone convict him.
LikeLike
It was in the first link in my Google search.
LikeLike
As to the prosecutor choosing not to prosecute that happens when the accused has the kind of star power Winston does. I would not be surprised to see type of charges again.
LikeLike
It may well be more difficult to convict Winston of sexual battery in Tallahassee than an average defendant. But, the prosecutor has said that he doesn’t even have enough evidence to arrest Winston, or to charge him. The burden for arrest isn’t beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s probable cause. The prosecutor doesn’t even think that the evidence against Winston amounts to probable cause.
LikeLike
When no one preserves evidence that is obviously going to happen. If the investigators had done due diligence it could have gone to a grand jury.
LikeLike
Again, assuming a thorough investigation turned up evidence of rape, then you are correct that it could have gone to a grand jury. As far as I know, a shoddy police investigation can’t be interpreted as evidence of guilt.
LikeLike
Nor should it be evidence of innocence
.
LikeLike
I’m not declaring Winston innocent. I’m simply saying there’s not enough evidence to proclaim him guilty.
LikeLike
Interesting hypothetical: How many of you would have taken the granted wish from the genie and traded Aaron Murray last year for Jameis Winston and a national championship (together, of course, with the Winston pattern of behavior)?
LikeLike
Our problem last year was not QB play.
LikeLike
Agreed, just as I hope FSU’s problem next year is.
LikeLike