Jameis Winston expected as witness

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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Florida State star Jameis Winston, football teammates Chris Casher and Ronald Darby, and the woman who accused Winston of rape are expected to attend a disciplinary hearing for Casher and Darby on Tuesday, an attorney for the accuser confirmed to ESPN.com.



"My client will be present," Baine P. Kerr told ESPN.com in an email. "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 Winson, 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. His attorney, Tim Jansen of Tallahassee, Florida, said Winston had consensual sex with the woman. But the woman's attorney, Patricia Carroll of Tampa, 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 sexual 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 and Mark Schlabach was used in this report.



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