In a story that many believe is being tried in the court of public opinion, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has confirmed that DNA provided by Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston matches the sample taken from the underwear of the woman who has accused him of sexual battery, ESPN.com reports.
Winston's attorney, Tim Jansen, said in a press conference Thursday morning that the two had consensual sex and that the test results were what he expected. "We are not surprised with the results of the DNA. We voluntarily submitted to a DNA. The only thing we are surprised by is it was leaked out by law enforcement," he said, according to USA Today. "The question the people should ask is why is it being leaked? For what purpose?"
In a statement released to the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday, the accuser's attorney said, "It was never the intent of the victim or the family for this to become public," but then went on to provide a scathing review of the police's handling of the case, ESPN reports. The statement also says that a police detective warned that "Tallahassee was a big football town and the victim needs to think long and hard before proceeding against him because she will be raked over the coals and her life will be made miserable."
The accuser reported the alleged incident to the police on Dec. 7, 2012. On the same day as the report, police obtained a sexual assault kit.
On Wednesday night, Tallahassee interim police chief Tom Coe said the accuser stopped cooperating with police in February.
Winston's DNA was recently obtained through a swab he provided to authorities investigating the case. Although the DNA match alone does not prove that Winston, a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, sexually assaulted the woman, it does link him with the accuser on the day the accuser said she was assaulted.
"I don't think it's a secret what the defense is when I tell you that we are not surprised his DNA was found. We anticipated it would be found. We never, ever said he wasn't there," Jansen told USA Today.
According to the DNA report, which was viewed by ESPN.com on Wednesday, a lab determined that the probability of the DNA in the woman's underwear belonging to anyone other than Winston was 1 in 2.2 trillion.
The state attorney for the 2nd Judicial Circuit, William Meggs, whose office will decide whether or not there is enough evidence to charge Winston with a crime, told ESPN.com on Wednesday that he probably won't take the case before a grand jury. "I'm not stupid," Meggs said. "It is a young man whose life is in a fishbowl right now. I think about that. There's also a young girl whose life has been turned upside-down, and her life will never be the same, either. We look at it and say, 'Which one of those is most important?' Both. It is a search for the truth, and the truth is kind of elusive sometimes."