Report: Florida State 'Did Little' To Investigate Winston Case, While Police Investigation Was Flawed
(CBS) A deeply reported piece published Wednesday morning by the New York Times asserts that Florida State "did little" to determine what had happened in the case of star Seminole quarterback Jameis Winston being accused of sexual assault and also raises questions about how the Tallahassee Police Department handled the case.
The main takeaway of the article was that the investigation by police was fundamentally flawed, while the university showed little interest in finding out what happened.
From the Times:
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.
A few of the police department's most egregious oversights were failing to acquire security video from the bar that the accuser had met the involved Florida State players at, waiting far too long to vigorously search for the cab driver who gave the group a ride and not tracking down Winston's roommate, Chris Casher, despite having his first name.
A lawyer of Winston's, David Cornwell, told The Times: "We don't need an investigation, thorough or otherwise, to know that Jameis did not sexually assault this young lady."
