Jameis Winston’s lawyer says that FSU code of conduct hearing won’t take Winston off field
David Cornwell, an attorney advising Jameis Winston, said the Florida State QB won’t miss any playing time because of a university code of conduct hearing.
Cornwell told SI.com that “It’s not going to have any impact on him playing.”
Winston was told Friday by the university that he is scheduled to have an informational hearing regarding the December 2012 accusation of sexual assault against him because he “might be charged with one of four violations of FSU’s student conduct code regarding sexual conduct.” A code of conduct hearing would then be held after Winston’s informational hearing.
However, the length of the case has made the situation unusual. It’s been 22 months since the time of the allegations. Florida State has a policy of having hearings within a year of the incident.
Cornwell noted this on Twitter Wednesday morning.
However, as SI notes, it’s not a steadfast rule.
Winston’s case is unusual in a few ways. First, he has not been charged with a student code of conduct violation. Cornwell also takes issue with the timing, as he said Florida State is going against its own policy of holding hearings within 12 months of alleged incidents. That’s not a precise rule, however, according to the school’s sexual harassment policy, which states: complaints “will generally not be investigated” more than a year from the filing date of the complaint. There’s a caveat for the rule, however, that says, “unless appropriate in the judgment” of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance.
On Tuesday, Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher also said he didn’t expect Winston to miss any playing time.
In an open letter posted on Friday before reports by Fox Sports and the New York Times, the university said the first time anyone outside of FSU campus police and the school’s victim advocate program knew about the incident was January 2013. Title IX officials then knew about the case in November 2013, already 11 months after the incident, and the accuser was interviewed in August 2014.
Cornwell also said he wanted to gather as much evidence as possible before hearings. Could he and Winston be simply trying to delay the hearings as long as possible until football season ends? It could help make sure he doesn’t miss any playing time.
“It sounds like the plan for Mr. Winston is to stall this out as long as possible to get through this football season,” John Clune, a lawyer for the accuser told SI. “The Department Of Education says these cases should be resolved within 60 days of them learning of the harassment. The school needs to be bigger than the football program for the moment and just get this hearing done. It’s not rocket science. They do these all the time for students that haven’t won the Heisman Trophy.”
For more Florida State news, visit Warchant.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
