Written by Marc Tracy at New York Times.com
Quarterback Jameis Winston has settled a dispute involving two federal lawsuits with a woman who accused him of rape, an allegation that ultimately touched off a national debate over a matter in which Winston was never prosecuted or disciplined.
John Clune, a lawyer for the woman, Erica Kinsman, on Wednesday night confirmed a report first published by TMZ Sports, saying, “The case has been resolved to the satisfaction of the parties.”
Winston’s lawyer, David Cornwell, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Kinsman’s lawsuit, accusing Winston of sexual battery, had been scheduled for trial in April.
Kinsman had said Winston raped her in late 2012 when they were Florida State students. Although she contacted law enforcement, the matter did not become public until late in 2013, the season in which Winston won the Heisman Trophy and led the Seminoles to a national title.
He was never questioned by the police in Tallahassee, Fla., and prosecutors ultimately declined to charge him. A New York Times investigation found that the police and the university did little to determine what had happened.
Kinsman was quoted directly in a 2015 documentary about campus sexual assault called “The Hunting Ground,” in which her accusation was cast as emblematic of what the filmmakers saw as a pervasive rape culture on college campuses.
While Winston was disciplined for stealing $32 worth of crab legs in the spring of 2014 and was suspended for a game in the 2014 season after he shouted a lewd phrase in the student union, a campus hearing in late 2014 over the episode with Kinsman found that he had not violated the university’s code of conduct. Winston has said the encounter was consensual.
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