Jameis Winston has filed a countersuit against the woman who has accused him of raping her in 2012.
This countersuit comes week after Erica Kinsman filed a civil suit against Winston for an alleged sexual battery that occurred while Winston was at Florida State.
The No. 1 overall NFL draft pick and former Florida State star filed a counterclaim Friday against Zephyrhills’ Erica Kinsman, alleging her rape accusations are “false, defamatory … and have maliciously and impermissibly interfered with Mr. Winston’s business and personal relationships.”
“Mr. Winston brings this action against Ms. Kinsman out of necessity, not malice or ill will,” the court filing said. “Nonetheless, Ms. Kinsman’s false statements have irreparably harmed in his professional and personal life.”
The counterclaim seeks damages in excess of $75,000. Kinsman’s attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment late Friday night.
The filing came on the day Winston made his Bucs debut at rookie camp and three weeks after Kinsman filed a civil suit in Orange County against Winston, accusing him of sexual battery from a December 2012 encounter.
Winston has maintained his innocence and was never arrested or charged with a crime.
In a court filing by Winston’s attorneys, John F. Meyers and David Cornwell, said Kinsman’s accusation has been shot down six times, by FSU, the Tallahassee Police Department and the State Attorney’s Office.
“However, Ms. Kinsman has been successful in one major area,” the filing said. “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. Ms. Kinsman is motivated by the most insidious objectives — greed.”
“If nothing else, Ms. Kinsman has been consistent at being inconsistent,” Friday’s filing said.
The filing said no outcry evidence has been produced, and there’s no evidence Kinsman felt coerced to leave the Tallahassee bar with Winston that night.
“To aid her false allegation of rape (the “False Allegation”), Ms. Kinsman tampered with witnesses, interfered with criminal investigations and manufactured new false assertions each time a prior lie was rebutted by the truth,” the filing said.
Those assertions and the “almost inconceivable amount of media attention” also led to the loss of lucrative endorsement deals, the filing alleges.
With Winston filing a countersuit things are about get very interesting in court room as the two parties’ attorneys do battle. This move will put Kinsman and her lawyers on the defensive as they were probably hoping the case would get settled, and clearly Winston as no intentions of doing that.
It is no question that these allegations have damaged Jameis’ reputation and have made people leery about endorsing him, and that’s unfortunate because he was never convicted of anything. I don’t blame him one bit for firing back at his accuser, as he tries to protect his name and reputation from taking anymore its.
