Jameis Winston Investigation Press Conference LIVE STREAM: Do All Signs Point to Seminoles' QB Not Being Charged?
ByWilliam Meggs, Tallahassee's Florida State Attorney is set to make his announcement on how to proceed in the sexual assault cases involving Jameis Winston, ESPN reported.
Meggs has set a press conference for 2 p.m. Thursday after his office has been investigating the case for about three weeks, but the early indications are that Winston will not face any criminal charges. On Nov. 13, his office received the case from the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) the same day news of the incident report broke.
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TMZ and several other news outlets cited unnamed sources saying Winston was the main suspect in the alleged sexual assault. The incident report was filed early in the morning of Dec. 5, 2012, the same night the victim said she was attacked. It is not clear if Winston ever spoke to law enforcement and why the TPD left the case inactive for the better part of a year.
"When you all look at this, when the dust all settles, you'll say, 'Man, there were some things that could have been done back in December of '12 that could have cleared this up a whole lot easier than November of 2013,' " Meggs said along with the press conference announcement.
Tim Jansen, Winston's attorney, previously stated he asked Meggs to come out with his decision to lift the "cloud" surrounding his client. Now, he said he is confident Winston will be cleared of the accusations.
"If [Meggs] looked at evidence we did, we feel confident he will find that Mr. Winston did nothing wrong," Jansen said.
Meggs previously said he did not have a definitive timeline for the end of his investigation because he wanted his office to be as thorough as possible. Thursday, he said he and his prosecutors "have exhausted all investigative tools."
A criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor in Meggs' office, Chuck Hobbs told Fox Sports he believes Winston will face no criminal charges.
"All my intuition tells me there won't be charges filed," he said Wednesday.
Another telltale sign that criminal charges may not be headed Winston's way is the fact that Meggs has reportedly not filed for an arrest warrant. Instead, he has called a press conference to announce his decision.
Hobbs said it would be strange for a state attorney to announce in a press conference he will be filing charges because he would risk publicly humiliation for his office. Hobbs believes Meggs would simply file an arrest warrant and ask Winston to turn himself in.
Further, Hobbs does not believe Meggs would have Winston arrested just prior to when he is scheduled to leave for Charlotte to play in the ACC Championship. Finally, Hobbs pointed out that Jansen scheduled a press conference of his own for 7 p.m., about an hour before the team is set to leave for Charlotte. Winston is expected to make a statement at that time.