Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston will not be charged after rape allegations. Credit: Getty Images
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, who has been under a media microscope regarding an accusation of rape by a female student at FSU, will not be charged.
Willie Meggs, the state attorney investigating the case for the past three weeks, confirmed at a press conference Thursday that no charges will be brought against anyone in the case.
“We have a duty as prosecutors to determine if each case has a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” Meggs said. “After reviewing the facts in this case, we do not feel that we can reach those burdens.”
Florida State is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the nation as the college football season comes to a close and Winston has a strong shot at winning the Heisman Trophy, college football’s most prestigious award.
A woman had accused Winston of sexually assaulting her at an off-campus apartment on Dec. 7, 2012. Winston’s DNA was reportedly found in the woman’s underwear but Meggs revealed Thursday that the DNA of another male – reportedly that of her boyfriend – was also found and that it complicated the investigation. The woman said she and her friends had had five-to-six shots at a bar but that her “memory is very broken from that point forward,” according to a search warrant from January. The accuser said she remembered being in a taxi cab with a man and going into an apartment before being raped.
“Her recall of the events of that night have been moving around quite a bit,” Meggs said.
This announcement comes just four days before the deadline for Heisman Trophy ballots. The trophy will be awarded on Dec. 14.
