Jameis Winston Strikes Back: Countersuit Calls Rape Story ‘Malicious, Defamatory, and False’

The top pick in last week’s NFL Draft has filed counterclaims in U.S. District Court in Orlando against the woman who accused him of rape.

Calling the allegations of a December 2012 rape “malicious,” “despicable,” and “defamatory,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston seeks damages of at least $75,000 in response to the woman’s civil suit alleging rape, false imprisonment, and other violations of her by the Heisman Trophy winner. Tomahawk Nation first reported the legal action late Friday night. The litigation’s mere verbiage, well-written but dripping with scorn and ridicule, serves as a victory of sorts for Winston in the public-relations battle.

Winston’s accuser “is 0 for 6” in attempts to sack the quarterback, the filing maintains. But the former Florida State co-ed “has been successful in one major area. She has mounted a false and vicious media campaign to vilify Mr. Winston with the objective of getting him to pay her to go away. [She] is motivated by the most insidious objectives — greed.”

The action notes that Winston’s accuser appealed to another Florida State player to leave rather than help as she engaged in sexual intercourse with his teammate in Tallahassee and points to several alterations of her story, such as a claim of getting hit over the head disappearing and a subsequent story of a mysterious drugging going away after a urinalysis refuted it. “If nothing else,” the 63-page suit reads, “[the accuser] has been consistent at being inconsistent.”

The suit contrasts claims of memory loss with claims of vivid recollections. “Just a few hours after [the accuser] alleges she was raped and while she claims she suffered from memory loss because she was (1) hit on the head, (2) drugged, or (3) suffered such a severe trauma that erased her memory,” the counterclaim holds, “[she] remembered to text a friend to solicit test answers that would enable her to cheat on an examination that she remembered she had on the following day.”

Winston seeks a jury trial.