Florida State football players Ronald Darby and Chris Casher gave similar witness accounts nearly a year after the alleged incident.
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Two Florida State teammates of star quarterback Jameis Winston told authorities Winston had consensual sex with the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her in December 2012, according to incident reports made public today.
In statements made to investigators nearly a year after the alleged assault, Ronald Darby and Chris Casher said Winston and his accuser engaged in sexual acts in Winston's bedroom in their off-campus apartment.
Casher told authorities that he watched Winston and the woman through a crack in the bedroom door and then walked into the room as part of a prank.
"The girl yelled at me, 'get out,'" Casher told authorities. "She got up off the bed and turned off the light and tried to close the door. I could hear them continuing to have sex. She never indicated that she was not a willing participant."
Darby corroborated this version of events during his interview with investigators on Nov. 13 — more than 11 months after the woman reported the incident to Tallahassee police.
Today, the Florida Attorney's Office in Tallahassee announced criminal charges would not be pressed against Winston in connection to the sexual assault investigation.
"I know there was a sexual event that occurred. One party said it was consensual. The other party said it wasn't," Meggs said. "We did not feel we had sufficient evidence to go forward to trial to prove it was not consensual."
The Tallahassee Police Department faced criticism for its handling of the investigation after the alleged victim's attorney said a detective attempted to discourage them from pursuing the case. Tallahassee police have denied this accusation.
Winston's attorney Tim Jansen said he had been told the case was closed in February. But it was was reopened in November, not long after several media outlets asked for records related to the investigation.
On Nov. 13 — the day investigators interviewed Casher and Darby, according to the incident report — the Tallahassee Police Department sent out a mass email to media outlets that includes a copy of the heavily redacted police report. There was no mention in the email that the complaint was filed against Winston. Within hours, both TMZ and the Tallahassee Democrat identified Winston as the alleged perpetrator.
Winston's accuser told authorities she and friends had been partying at Potbelly's, a bar on the edge of campus on the night of Dec. 6, 2012. The woman told police she had five to six shots and then began to feel the effects of the alcohol after her friends left. She said she remembered going to an apartment in a cab with three black men.
Once there, she said, one of the men — later identified as Winston — took her clothes off and began having sex with her as she tried to fight him off. She remembered a second man coming into the room and telling the first one to stop, the report said. Instead, the alleged assailant took her into the bathroom and finished having sex with her, she said.
According to the incident report, she said the man put her clothes on, asked her where she lived and then put her on a black scooter. A short time later, the man dropped her off at an intersection near her home.
Casher and Darby claimed the woman willfully accompanied them back to the apartment and then went into a bedroom with Winston. Casher said he saw the woman performing oral sex on Winston, and then watched as the two took off their own clothes and started to have sex.
Casher said he went into the room to see if the woman would have sex with him too, but she told him to leave. Soon after, according to the report, Casher said he tried to videotape Winston and the woman when the woman saw him and again told him to leave. Then, Casher said, the woman turned off the light and went into the bathroom with Winston.
Minutes later, Casher said he heard Winston and the woman get on his scooter and leave.
