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Florida State to use independent arbiter to decide Winston code-of-conduct case
Florida State University officials late on Friday decided to bypass the normal process for conducting a student-code-of-conduct investigation in the case of Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston and will send the case to an independent arbiter.
The university, since at least early August, has been looking into a woman's allegation that she was raped by Winston on Dec. 7, 2012. Specifically, the school began the investigation in an effort to determine whether Winston violated the student conduct code.
Winston was not charged with a crime in the incident, which his attorneys have repeatedly said was nothing more than a consensual sexual encounter.
Although the school's investigation cannot end in criminal charges, a finding that Winston violated university rules could have serious ramifications for him. If, for instance, the school were to find he committed sexual misconduct in the incident, he could face a sanction as severe as expulsion from Florida State.
Normally, the school would investigate and determine whether to charge a student with a violation of university rules. If that happened, then the case would go to a hearing, where university administrators would take testimony and consider evidence before determining whether a violation occurred.
If there was a finding that a student violated the code of conduct, the decision would then be made about punishment.
On Friday night, David Cornwell, an attorney who has advised Winston and his family, posted a message on Twitter: "FSU creates new procedures 2 investigate the false allegations. Declines to charge Jameis w/a violation of the Code of Student Conduct. #1step".
John Clune, an attorney who represents the woman in the case, confirmed that he was notified by FSU administrators that the school was altering the normal process. Instead of looking at the evidence and making a decision about whether a charge is warranted, FSU is going to send the case straight to a neutral arbiter -- who hasn't yet been identified.
That person, most likely a retired judge, will go straight to a hearing, where he or she will consider testimony and other evidence and make a finding of fact. Both the woman and Winston will be invited to testify at the hearing.
If that arbiter concludes that Winston violated the code of conduct, then he would face penalties under Florida State policies.
It is not clear how soon that hearing will be held.
Cornwell could not be reached for comment Friday night.
Clune, however, said it was not accurate to say that Winston would not be charged -- the university's plan to send the case to an outside arbiter bypassed the part of the procedure where the decision on a charge against Winston would be made.
"We would not have commented publicly on this, but someone on Mr. Winston's behalf was already tweeting some pretty inaccurate information about the letter that was received," Clune said.
