Story highlights
NEW: DNA from accuser's clothes matches that of Jameis Winston, lawyer confirms
NEW: He says his client had consensual sex with the woman, a fellow student
NEW: Former police chief says he was unaware of the case during his last 10 months at the position
NEW: Accuser's attorney said they didn't want this case to go public
Heisman Trophy hopeful Jameis Winston and his accuser had consensual sex the night she told police he had sexually assaulted her, the attorney for the Florida State star quarterback said Thursday.
Tim Jansen said his client’s DNA was found on the clothing of the woman, who nearly a year ago said she was raped. ESPN, which first reported the DNA development, said the Florida crime lab determined that the possibility it was someone else’s DNA would be one in 2.2 trillion.
Jansen and state attorney Willie Meggs confirmed two DNA samples have been taken in the case, one from Winston and the other from a witness.
“I will tell you from Day 1, December of 2012, our defense (has) not changed whatsoever,” Jansen told Capitol News Service. “These DNA results had no effect on it. It had no effect on the testimony on the eyewitnesses that were there.”
The case grew more curious Thursday when the recently retired police chief of the Tallahassee Police Department told CNN he was unaware there was a rape investigation against Winston, who has led the Seminoles to a No. 2 national ranking, until he learned about it in the media.
Dennis M. Jones, who left the post in October, said when he was the city’s top cop that he always knew about cases involving athletes, even if the players weren’t charged.
“I’d like to know why it didn’t make it to me,” he said. “It could be because the victim didn’t want to prosecute. I don’t know. But that’s a question I have.”
The case began in December when the woman, a student at Florida State in Tallahassee, reported she had been sexually assaulted. A month later she accused Winston of the alleged rape.
Tallahassee Police Department Interim Chief Tom Coe told reporters Wednesday night that the accuser “broke off contact” with them in February and didn’t want to go forward with the case.
The news conference followed a statement from the family of the accuser criticizing the department’s investigation.
The lengthy message, which was printed by the Tampa Bay Times newspaper and other media, blasted the lead detective on the case.
The accuser’s family said Detective Scott Angulo warned her attorney that Tallahassee is a “big football town” and her life could be miserable if she pursued the case. Angulo has not responded to several CNN requests for comment.
Jansen, Winston’s attorney, said he believed the case was closed months ago.
But Coe said the case is still open.
“We hope to move it forward as quickly as we can in coordination with the state attorney’s office and bring closure to it,” he said.
No one has been charged in the investigation, and Meggs said his office has yet to interview the accuser. He will meet with his staff Friday, he said, to determine their next steps.
Jones called Angulo a good investigator and said he finds it hard to believe the detective would pressure an accuser.
The story became public when some media outlets put in public records requests for the alleged victim’s complaint. Tallahassee police have released a heavily redacted incident report documenting a sexual assault allegation in early December 2012.
The family’s statement said they never leaked information about the case, a response to Jansen’s comment last week that the timing of the media discovering the case – in the middle of the college football season – was “very suspect.” Jones also questioned the timing.
The woman’s attorney strongly disputed that Thursday.
“We did not want this to blow up in the press,” Patricia Carroll told CNN. “Everybody is asserting about the timing and implying the victim (tipped off the media), that’s not the case. She was in classes at FSU. Exams were coming up. She had to leave school and come back home because of this.”
She found it “inherently contradictory” that Jones said Angulo was a good detective, but Jones said he was left unaware of the case.
Jones said his former department never gave athletes preferential treatment. Police are aware of the perception, he said.
“So anytime we got a case involving an athlete we would go above and beyond in our investigation. It’s almost to the contrary of what people perceive,” he told CNN.
The Heisman Trophy is awarded in December and goes to the player who voters believe had the best college football season. Winston has thrown for 28 touchdowns for the Seminoles, who are 10-0 and with three more wins could play in January for the national championship.
Winston didn’t play during the 2012 season but came to Florida State as one of the nation’s top quarterback recruits, according to recruiting rankings.
Jones pointed out that when the accusation was made Winston was not famous, as he is now.
Florida State has said university officials cannot comment on an open investigation.
CNN’s Nick Valencia contributed to this report.