The President of the Florida Bar has stepped in to defend retired Florida Supreme Court justice Major Harding after a lawyer for the woman accusing Jameis Winston of sexual assault said the code of conduct hearing for the quarterback was biased.
On Sunday, Harding, who oversaw the hearing, ruled there the evidence was "insufficient to satisfy the burden of proof" that Winston violated Florida State's code of conduct in the incident on Dec. 7, 2012 that resulted in the woman accusing Winston of sexual assault. Throughout the entire process, Winston had maintained that the encounter was consensual.
As part of Title IX regulations, universities are required to investigate accusations of sexual assault. The code of conduct hearing was held earlier in December. Had Winston found to be in violation of the code of conduct, he could have faced sanctions from the university that prohibited him from playing in Florida State's Rose Bowl game against Oregon on Jan. 1.
''I don't want to impugn the proceeding as corrupt, but I think it was biased and the fix was in,'' attorney Baine Kerr told the Associated Press. ''It's all about a football game 10 days from today. It turned out to be just a predetermined whitewash to keep a guy playing football.''
Kerr also said that "'The proper forum to getting to the truth is going to be the court of law, not, essentially, a sham court like this one turned out to be," and that "It was not an impartial ruling. It was a ruling that went to great lengths and improper lengths to try to find a way to exonerate Winston.''
Though because of appeals, the chances of Winston missing the game were slim. The woman and her attorneys have 10 days to appeal Harding's ruling and Kerr said he took issue with Winston's definition of consent at the hearing.
Kerr's comments were published on Monday evening. On Tuesday, Gregory Coleman posted a statement on the Florida Bar website.
"Comments in a recent AP news article attributed to Baine Kerr, a Colorado attorney who represents the young woman accusing Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston, are too outrageous for me to ignore.
"Major Harding, a former chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court who presided over the FSU code of conduct hearing, is one of the most highly respected lawyers in Florida and in the United States. To say that he is anything but thoroughly unbiased and of the highest integrity is unacceptable.
"I have known Harding for nearly 20 years. His reputation and integrity are beyond question and thousands of lawyers would agree. FSU President John Thrasher's recognition of Harding for conducting a thorough hearing was on target. Kerr's comments were completely off-base and irresponsible.
"It is unfortunate that Kerr chose to attack someone like former Supreme Court Justice Harding. I would caution Kerr to follow his oath as an attorney to be professional and to maintain the respect due to all who are unquestionably dedicated to fairness and impartiality."
Winston was not criminally charged regarding the incident due to a lack of evidence in the case. Civil action could still be forthcoming.
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