ICYMI: FSU Players Get Minor Citations in Hit and Run

((ht: nytimes.com))

Okay, yeah, the Tallahassee faithful are going to plead "Witch Hunt". The media is conspiring against us. It's the media's fault. Politicians use this excuse all the time and when it's echoed, it often sticks even though nothing could be further from the truth. The first proven case of a reporter coming out and admitting they are trying to deliberately trying to sabotage a football program will be a game changer. But it's never happened for a reason.

In the case of Florida State Football and their standing in Tallahassee, someone has to stand up for the public, because on the surface, the appearance is that the police aren't. And nobody down there seems to care as long as the football players don't get arrested.

The latest example: A story that appeared in Friday's New York Times.

According to the Times...and police records. FSU Cornerback P.J Williams, a starter, was involved in an October 5th early, early morning hit and run traffic crash. As was teammate Ronald Darby.

The report says a Buick Century, driven by Williams, crashed into an SUV driven by an area teen driving home at 2:30 in the morning after a late shift at work. The impact heavily damaged both vehicles, and the teen was injured by the airbags that deployed.

By the time he was able to get himself out of the car and before police, Williams and Darby disappeared into the darkness. Williams would return over an hour later and be issued to traffic citations, despite the fact his license was suspended.

By that time a number of other officers were on the scene and they had already determined the Buick belonged to Williams's grandmother.

But did Tallahasse's finest do anything? Yes actually. They called FSU police to assist. And somebody, possibly Williams had alerted Director of Player Development Mario Edwards.

Read more from the Times RIGHT HERE

Now....while police say it's not uncommon to issue citations in hit and run accidents, the difference here is the severity. And the fact Williams was driving on a suspended license, something that seems to have been overlooked.

Apparently two days later, he paid the fine for that, but has yet to pay the fine for his October 5th citation, which led to his license being suspended again.

The issue FSU apologists is this. If THIS incident involved ANYONE other than a football player the outcome would have been significantly different. YOU or I would have been arrested on the spot.

And for the sake of argument, even if everything here really is on the up and up, it still fosters the perception of preferential treatment for football players. Players who are able to commit crimes, damage property, injure people and do what they wish.

The Tallahassee Police and Florida State athletic program don't seem to be concerned about it. The excuse "everyone does this" doesn't fly. And while blaming the media is great and FSU has managed to scare off ESPN, it doesn't change the problem, one that sounds hauntingly familiar to Penn State fans.

Think about it...

Report: FSU Complicated Jameis Winston Investigation

((ht: foxsports.com))

Oh boy. An excellent piece of investigative reporting by FOX Sports has turned up proof that Florida State administrators had a hand in making the investigation of star QB Jameis Winston's rape allegations much more difficult to prosecute.

Reporter Kevin Vaughn dug into a mountain of e-mails along with audio and video recordings which show that FSU on more than one occasion gave information to their hand-picked attorney for Winston before giving or releasing the same information to investigators.

If this is proven in a court of law, things, um...well, they could get a bit more interesting.

Read Vaughn's excellent and detailed report RIGHT HERE

It essentially says that both University Police, Tallahassee Police and FSU athletics assistant Monk Bonasarte ran interference, deflecting both reporters questions and making sure that Winston's attorney's had the most up to date information on witnesses and others before District Attorney Willie Meggs' office did.

And yes, we know, while that unto itself does not prove that Winston committed a crime, it does indicate what many have suspected. The atmosphere in Tallahassee appears to be set-up to protect Winston or other football players at the expense of potential victims or anyone who calls athletes out for possible misdeeds.

Your Video story from FOXSports1

Report: Feds Looking Into FSU and Jameis Winston Investigation

((ht: foxsports.com))

Hmmm...this could be interesting.

According to reports this afternoon, Federal Government investigators have begun looking into Florida State University's handling of rape allegations against star QB Jameis Winston and other reports of sexual assault allegations against FSU athletes over the past three years.

And while it may mean and/or turn up nothing, it most certainly is something worth monitoring.

You'll recall Winston was absolved of charges leveled by a woman who claims he assaulted her after she had multiple drinks at a Tallahassee bar in late 2012. The woman claims Tallahassee police and others did not fully investigate the charges and insinuated that they were not worth pursuing because of Winston's status.

Details of that incident did not surface until November of 2013 and the Florida Sate Attorney's office decided to not pursue the charges citing insufficient evidence.

Read the story from FOXSports.com RIGHT HERE

While at this point, there's been little, if any reaction from the University, like we mentioned earlier, it bears watching.

Today's report does not mention WHICH agency is actually investigating the allegations but the fact an outside agency has expressed some concern over the timeline and transpiring of events leads one to be reminded of that old quote that quite often "Where there is smoke, there's often fire".

Only time will tell....

Here's the look from WCTV in Thomasville-Tallahassee

DEVELOPING: Winston Not To Be Charged (UPDATED)

Various sources are saying that FSU QB Jameis Winston will not be charged in the current sexual assault investigation ongoing by Tallahassee DA and Florida State Attorney's Offices...

Details of the allegations came out today with the release of the warrants, including:

Police said the woman recalled getting into a taxi with a “non-descript” black male and entering a ground-floor apartment, at which point the man took off her clothes and raped her as she tried to fight him off.
The search-warrant request said at some point the woman told police a black man with dreadlocks came into the room and told the man to stop, but the suspect led her into a bathroom where he “completed the act.”

More as we go with the press conference coming at the top of the hour...

1400 UPDATE: State Attorney Willie Meggs says the timing of the decision being the week before the ACC title game is "not driven by any Heisman demands or football schedule."

So says he...

Meggs also says he didn't have sufficient evidence to have "a reasonable likelihood of conviction..."

Take that however you wish...

The investigation had DNA from two males allegedly involved in the case- one of those identities was unknown, one was Winston's. Meggs said identifying the unknown person was reason the investigation took as long as it did. There was no evidence of drugs in accuser's blood and an alcohol level in her system that was not above the legal limit...

Here's Shelley Smith discussing the content of the warrants...
((HT: ESPN))

Potential Victim Warned by Police: The Curious Case of Jameis Winston

((ht: tampabay.com))

For those of you not up to speed, there appears to be a sexual assault case from late 2012 that may or may not implicate Florida State redshirt freshman phenom Jameis Winston.

The victim in the case, a then Florida State University student says she was attacked after a rendezvous with a yet unknown male at a Tallahassee area bar in November of 2012. She called police, who responded to her apartment and filed a report. While making the report, the woman identified Winston as the alleged perpetrator.

Her family released a statement Wednesday morning to the St. Petersburg (FL) Times. The statement says she was told, her life could "Be Made Miserable" and that Tallahassee was "A Big Football Town".

That statement was not given with context.

The part of this report that is concerning many is this: Very little, if anything that happened that November night in 2012 was made public...until last week (about a year later). And nobody knows (at this point) if Winston was involved or not. His name does not appear on any search records. It does not appear that any search warrants period were issued in relation to the case. A case the District Attorney, Willie Meggs classified last week as "A Cluster".

Read the St. Pete Times story RIGHT HERE

Unlike many of our blogging brethren, we won't jump to any conclusions here. Though we will say, the whole mess does not make much sense. Why would Tallahassee police not investigate the claim/report? Why was it not made public until word somehow leaked out...nearly a year later? If Winston was a suspect, why was he not mentioned in the report or in the subsequent alleged investigation? And for that matter, why did Tallahassee police (a) allegedly threaten the victim and (b) not say anything about this until now?

There's also the matter of the victim describing her attacker as a 5-9 to 6-0 male, about 220-240 pounds. Winston is 6-4, 220.

The case is a bit of a distraction for the 10-0 Seminoles as they close in on a BCS berth. The team has 2 games remaining this season one against Idaho and the rivalry game with Florida, both are likely wins
. The question some Sports Writers have asked is "What happens if Winston is suspended?"

The answer is pretty simple, right or wrong, if charged, the discussion of his status may change, but considering how long it took for the allegations to actually emerge, does anyone think this will be resolved before the Seminoles season ends in 2 weeks?