Details released of alleged rape by Florida State quarterback Winston

[December 23, 2014]  By Letitia Stein
 
 TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A woman says she pleaded, "please stop, no," as Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston allegedly raped her, according to transcripts from a university hearing released on Monday by her attorneys after he was cleared in the proceeding.

More than 200 pages of documents detail the female student's version of the December 2012 encounter with Winston, who last year won the Heisman Trophy.

When they met at a bar near campus, the woman did not know Winston's name, according to her statements at the disciplinary hearing in Tallahassee, Florida, earlier this month.

Back at his apartment, she said, Winston forced her to have sex in a bedroom and in a locked bathroom.

"I said please stop, no, multiple times," she said at the hearing. "I remember pleading just for him to stop."

The woman, then a student at Florida State, answered questions about the incident from retired Florida Supreme Court Justice Major B. Harding, who was retained by the university to oversee the proceeding. Her name was removed from the transcript.

Winston did not answer questions, but submitted a detailed account of what he described as a consensual sexual encounter, saying he "never used physical violence, threats, or other coercive means."

Neither version appeared more credible than the other, concluded Harding, clearing Winston of student conduct code violations in a letter that became public on Sunday.

Winston has not been charged criminally in the incident.

The case has received wide attention as Winston prepares to lead the undefeated Florida State Seminoles into the first collegiate football playoffs next month.

It comes as the National Football League faces criticism for its handling of domestic violence and abuse by its players.

Federal education officials are investigating Florida State under Title IX, which requires colleges receiving federal funds to promptly investigate sexual abuse complaints.

The woman, now studying at a university in Tampa, near her hometown, said she had to leave Florida State after receiving death threats.

Her Colorado-based attorneys, John Clune and Baine Kerr, said they released the transcripts to "correct any misrepresentations."

Winston's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

"I have had my most horrible life experience played out and debated in local and national media," the woman said, according to the transcripts.

"I don't care about football or money or (Winston's) career," she said. "I just want the truth to be heard."

(Additional reporting by Bill Cotterell in Tallahassee, Florida.)

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