Attorney: Jameis Winston not notified

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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Florida State star Jameis Winston "was never notified" to attend a disciplinary hearing for football teammates Chris Casher and Ronald Darby that was to be attended by the woman who accused Winston of rape, his attorney said Tuesday.



Attorney Tim Jansen told ESPN.com that Winston was never asked to attend Tuesday's hearing and instead was with the Seminoles baseball team in North Carolina for the ACC tournament.



Jansen also said that Winston likely would have been required to testify if called upon by the school, and that he has no reason to believe there would be any more issues that would prolong Winston's involvement in the school's investigation, either as a witness or suspect.



Florida State issued a statement Tuesday saying that it is a violation of state and federal law for the school to comment on student disciplinary hearings.



Attorneys for the accuser previously told ESPN in an email that Winston was listed as a witness and it was expected he "will comply."



"My client will be present," Baine P. Kerr told ESPN.com in an email on Monday. "Winston, Casher and Darby are listed as witnesses also and we expect they will comply."



Casher and Darby face discipline, including expulsion, for possible violations of the FSU student code of conduct related to the rape accusation against Winston, Fox Sports earlier reported.



In addition, Winston, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, has never answered questions in the case.



Winston faced felony charges after being accused of sexually assaulting the woman at an off-campus apartment on Dec. 7, 2012. However, the state attorney decided this past December not to press charges against Winston due to a lack of evidence.



ESPN.com previously reported that DNA found in the woman's underwear matched Winston's. Jansen said Winston had consensual sex with the woman. But the woman's attorney, Patricia Carroll, said Winston raped her client.



The disciplinary hearing against Casher, a defensive end, and Darby, a defensive back, is related to their actions the morning of the Winston incident and possible sexual-misconduct and invasion-of-privacy violations of the FSU code of conduct, Fox Sports reported.



In November, Casher and Darby gave statements to an investigator for Jansen that said they were at a bar with Winston when the accuser struck up a conversation with the quarterback and got into a cab with the three men.



Once at their apartment, the teammates said, they peeked through Winston's bedroom door and saw the woman having sex with the quarterback. At one point, Casher said, he "busted into the room to embarrass Jameis" and the woman yelled at him to "get out."



In a later interview with police, Casher changed this part of his story, saying he went into the room because he hoped the woman would also have sex with him, something he said had happened in the past when he and Winston brought a woman to the apartment.



Casher left the room and was not accused of having sex with the woman. However, he told police he filmed part of the encounter on his cellphone, another violation of the FSU code of conduct, according to Fox Sports.



John Clune, another attorney representing the accuser, told ESPN.com in an email that the woman who accused Winston is cooperating with the university in the investigation of Casher and Darby.



Information from ESPN.com's Matt Fortuna, Jared Shanker and Mark Schlabach was used in this report.



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