Florida State has launched a disciplinary inquiry into allegations that Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston sexually assaulted a female student in 2012, an attorney for Winston’s accuser told multiple media outlets Thursday.
The attorney, John Clune, said representatives from the university interviewed the woman in early August for the first time since she first reported the alleged assault in December 2012.
“They assured us that the Title IX process was going to move forward,” Clune told USA Today. “The interview went pretty well. I think it was a positive experience, and everyone felt like the university was taking it very seriously.”
Clune told The New York Times that other people connected to the case also were interviewed.
Prosecutors declined last December to charge Winston, citing a lack of evidence. David Cornwell, a lawyer advising Winston’s family, said he expects the new inquiry to yield the same result. Clune, meanwhile, said he has been assured by the university that the investigation will go forward, “but what the time frame would be and what exactly that means we’ll have to wait and see.”
“There are some good people who want to do the right thing on one side of campus.” Clune told the Times, “then you have one of the most powerful athletic departments in the country on the other side of the campus with the No. 1 football team in the nation. I think we will find out pretty quickly how that struggle will shake out.”
Title IX regulations require schools “to investigate and adjudicate cases of sexual harassment and violence regardless of the outcome of any criminal investigation,” per USA TODAY.
Photo via Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports Images
