Timothy Jansen, Winston's attorney, and State Attorney Willie
Meggs held press conferences within minutes of one another.
Jansen insinuated that the leak came from Meggs' office, an
assertion the state attorney denied.
Though it is still
unclear who leaked the information, Jansen did reveal that
Winston voluntarily gave a DNA sample to Tallahassee police last
week, but said that even if it matches that of the alleged
victim it wouldn't mean his client raped the woman.
Jansen said the sex between Winston and the accuser
"absolutely" was consensual, but then retreated when pressed by
reporters who asked him to confirm what he just said.
"I'm not saying that," Jansen said. "I'm saying the
eyewitnesses that were there will verify that any material that
was found, or any evidence that was found, is consistent with
him (doing) nothing wrong."
ESPN first reported Wednesday night that Winston's DNA
matched a sample taken from the underwear of the accuser.
Jansen said he has not seen the results of the DNA tests and
found out watching television.
"All I know is it's very suspicious that the only news
reporting agency that (State Attorney) Willie Meggs met
privately with yesterday in his office was the one that reported
that last night on television," Jansen said. "And that would be
ESPN."
Meggs met with the press minutes after Jansen's and denied
that he — or anyone in his office — released the DNA information
to the media. He called the release of the information
"problematic." He said he did not know who the source of
information was for ESPN.
Tallahassee Police Department spokesman David Northway told
The Associated Press that the leak did not come from the police.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement — which did the DNA
analysis — said it transmitted the report over a secure network
to police and prosecutors.
"From FDLE's standpoint it was inappropriate to release the
forensic information at this time," said Gretl Plessinger, a
spokeswoman for the agency.
Meggs, who has been the lead prosecutor in the Tallahassee
area for nearly 30 years, also refused to discuss the results or
any other "evidence" that was part of the case. But Meggs did
acknowledge that prosecutors have issued subpoenas in order to
collect evidence for the ongoing investigation.
Jansen said he's surprised the DNA results were leaked by law
enforcement but, "this DNA has no impact whatsoever on this
case. The two eyewitnesses that were present will exonerate"
Winston.
Jansen said the DNA of one of the eyewitnesses was also taken
in the last week by investigators.
"We're not surprised (Winston's) DNA was found," Jansen said.
"We anticipated that would be found. We've never ever said he
wasn't there. We never said any of that."
Meggs would not answer directly why DNA was taken from one of
the witnesses, or whether or not there is a now a possibility of
multiple suspects in the case.
But Meggs said his office was "trying to find all the
relevant facts in the case" and that he did not want someone to
question later what evidence was or wasn't gathered.
