Jameis Winston won’t face rape charges, prosecutors say

The #1 ranked Florida State University Seminoles quarterback, Jameis Winston will not be charged with sexual assault of a woman who claimed that she was raped by the Heisman Trophy candidate, one year ago.

State Attorney Willie Meggs made the announcement Thursday, saying the accuser’s lack of recollection of the events that happened in December 2012, was a major factor in seeking an indictment.

“It’s not inconsistencies, its lack of memory most of the time,” Meggs said of the woman’s allegations.

Meggs added that investigators did not have even probable cause to arrest Winston.

According to news reports, the family of the accuser, who has not been named said, football interests dictated the pace and depth of the investigation.

See documents related to Jameis Winston’s rape allegations here.

After the alleged rape on December 7, 2012, the woman told investigators that she, along with other friends had been drinking at a bar named Potbelly’s.  While she does not remember the sequence of events, the woman claimed that she ended up in the ground-floor of an apartment where a man removed her clothes and had sex with her, although she objected.

One month later, the woman accused Winston of sexually assaulting her, but then broke off contact with investigators in February, saying she didn’t want to move ahead with the case.   The accuser’s family disputes this, according to news reports.

Winston’s DNA matched the DNA on the woman’s underwear.  His attorney, Timothy Jansen said the sex was consensual between the two.

Meggs brushed off any suggestion that the case was not pursued because Tallahassee is a “big football town.” He said, it was a matter of whether the sex was a “forceful act.”

“When you see the report, you’ll see all the answers,” Meggs said.