FSU releases Open Letter in response to Winston case, victim's attorney responds

[AlexDaGator]

https://www.cbssports.com/collegefo...attorney-blasts-fsu-statement-on-winston-case

Florida State vigorously defended its response to the sexual assault allegations against Jameis Winston in an open letter issued Friday, but an attorney for the woman who accused Winston of rape says the letter only shows how badly the university botched its handling of the case.

John Clune, the Title IX attorney who currently represents Winston's accuser, blasted the letter in a statement to the media. "Florida State knows that there is a big story about to break from the New York Times and their PR team is trying to do a little preventative damage control," Clune wrote, per the Orlando Sentinel. "The obvious news in this statement is that senior athletic department officials met with Winston and his lawyer one month after the rape occurred then decided to hide it from the Title IX office.
"The statement's timeline is full of errors but it shows that we can add both [the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] and the victim-advocate privilege to the list of laws Florida State is willing to break to protect this football program. What else can the school do wrong in this mess? The whole country is moving toward improving the response to campus rape while Florida State still backpedals the other way.”

The take-home here is that the athletic department knew about the allegations and didn't inform FSU's Title IX office.

Alex.

 

[ATXGator]

Whoa... that is huge

 

[MJMGator]

Saw this earlier. Gonna get pretty ugly for the clowns before all is said and done.

 

[WobbleGator]

Saw this earlier. Gonna get pretty ugly for the clowns before all is said and done.

Good.

 

[backstop13]

anyone enjoying watching all this doo-doo hitting the clown school's fan?

 

[williston_gator]

Wow.

 

[MidwestChomp]

The ax is about to drop. Plus, the timing of the letter makes me wonder if it also has something to do with how UF handled the Harris case.

 

[ATXGator]

One thing to point out for all the clowns that say our situatoin is similar is that the accuser in the UF case has now withdrawn her claim. The accuser in the FSU case has maintained that this occurred througout all the issues and attacks... that says a lot.

 

[deuce]

I predict, heads will roll!


Probably lower ranking employees will be scraficed....

 

[Ray Finkle]

One thing to point out for all the clowns that say our situatoin is similar is that the accuser in the UF case has now withdrawn her claim. The accuser in the FSU case has maintained that this occurred througout all the issues and attacks... that says a lot.

Big sign. That and Treon and UF completely cooperated and offered all the help they could. Very, very different.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

Sorry, I don't read clown. Someone cliffnotes this for me?

 

[AlexDaGator]

I posted this in an earlier thread:

I want you guys to understand what's going on here. There are two different investigations.

The first is an internal FSU investigation regarding the rape. Title IX requires schools to promptly and thoroughly investigate such claims and resolve them in about 60 days. The burden is "preponderance of the evidence" which means more likely than not.

The second is a DOJ investigation of FSU to see if FSU did in fact comply with Title IX.

The internal investigation has a low burden of proof but it had equally low punishment powers. Chris Casher (who admitted to videotaping the incident) was put on probation for a year. Basically nuthin. The other "witness" got off scot free. So what might happen to Winston as a result? If they decide it is more likely that he didn't rape her, nothing. If they decide it is more likely that he did rape her, the most they can do is expel him (in which case he sues them and probably gets an injunction allowing him to remain enrolled until the case is resolved). I don't know what FSU is going to do here, but the pressure is going to be on them to rule in Winston's favor.

The DOJ investigation is likely to determine that FSU failed to act in accordance with Title IX requirements. You have the decidedly unthorough investigation, a meeting with Winston without the victim being able to rebut, the long delay, etc. In its defense, FSU claims the victim decided not to cooperate with the internal investigation, hence the delay. On the other hand, this lack of cooperation is likely due to FSU clearly trying to sweep this under the rug. I think FSU loses here but what does that mean? The absolute worst the government can do is cut off funding. No death penalty. It can't take away wins or bowl games or scholarships, can't put a team on probation or suspend any coaches or players. Title IX is all about federal funding. Schools receiving federal funding have to yada yada yada. Cutting such funding has never happened in the past, despite some egregious cases (remember the Colorado case?). The typical punishments are like coming up with a new protocol for dealing with accusations, hiring some staff, reporting requirements, etc.

Alex.

 

[TallyGator]

Good synopsis Alex. I, however, have a feeling that some institution has to be the first to suffer significant financial penalties. I think that if the Winston case is the only one they have lied about and not properly investigated, not much would be done. However, my understanding is that this is not the only case and that has, in fact, been an ongoing lack of institutional control in the area of Tile IX. Releasing this statement today, only to have blasted by the accuser's attorney as being full of lies is only going to make it easier for the government to slam FSU financially. In earlier posts, the federal funding represents 1/3 of the total operating budget. And funding is an all or nothing deal. They could become a community college overnight.

With so much attention now brought to the act of sexual assault, FSU may not be able to escape

 

[MidwestChomp]

I posted this in an earlier thread:



Alex.

But the NCAA can always step in like they did with Penn State and put sanctions on a school.

 

[Ray Finkle]

But the NCAA can always step in like they did with Penn State and put sanctions on a school.

Would be idiotic here. That is why we were over aggressive on the discipline.

 

[NCOGator]

So what I got out of this is that Rapey might face charges. What another whole game? Wow then what does murder get you a 3 game suspension?

 

[The Original DC]

One thing to point out for all the clowns that say our situatoin is similar is that the accuser in the UF case has now withdrawn her claim. The accuser in the FSU case has maintained that this occurred througout all the issues and attacks... that says a lot.

Exactly. And has stayed aggressive, dug-in and lawyered-up. These cases are even remotely close.

 

[gatorchamps0607]

I'll be the debbie downer and say I doubt anything will happen to FSU, just because sometimes I'm pessimistic.

 

[URGatorBait]

I'll be the debbie downer and say I doubt anything will happen to FSU, just because sometimes I'm pessimistic.

I'm always pessimistic about anything bad happening to them.

 

[ATXGator]

I'll be the debbie downer and say I doubt anything will happen to FSU, just because sometimes I'm pessimistic.

I am also pessimistic about anything really happening to them. They are teflon. All of the crap they have pulled over the years and have never gotten nailed...