For 30 years, William Meggs has been the State Attorney of Florida and has brought a tough on crime attitude that echoes throughout Tallahassee. Never a stranger to controversy, Meggs has been at the forefront of almost every major case that has occurred in his judicial circuit. This includes the counties of Leon, Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Liberty, and Wakulla with a combined population of over 300,000 residents.
Yet, despite his broad cover, his reputation is widely known for one population — the football players at Florida State University.
Recent happenings involving FSU players have once again directed the national media to the state capitol of Florida, where Meggs and his staff of over 40 attorneys operate. His multiple re-elections would initially suggest that he and his team do a fine job of looking over the city and prosecuting criminals at every turn.
But recent documents obtained by Noled Out would seem to indicate the opposite: Meggs seemingly focuses on prosecuting football players at the expense of regular citizens and applies different standards of evidence when FSU athletes are not involved. One of the victims of this negligence came forward to speak about her experience — an experience that includes unhelpful lawyers, a disinterested State Attorney’s Office, and a malicious Willie Meggs.
Florida State played South Florida in September 2012 as Christina was hanging out in the Fourth Quarter bar/restaurant of Tallahassee. She admits that she had a couple drinks, but she wasn’t drunk. Christina had a met a man, whom we’ll refer to as John, at the bar that night and she offered to take him home. Christina said John had consumed a few more drinks than her and was in no condition to drive back to his house.
Christina and John arrived at his home and went inside to relax on the couch. Soon after they sat down, Christina said John’s two roommates (a girl we will dub Mandy and a guy we will dub Jim) arrived at the house and looked upset. Christina said that they were in a “verbal squabble” and instructed both her and John to leave. Christina wasn’t too sure what the problem was, but nonetheless John led her out through the garage. It was in the garage that Christina saw a dog in his cage, whining and laying down. She says that she bent down to let him out/pet him, thinking the dog belonged to John.
That was when Christina said the attack started. Without warning, Mandy went to Christina and shoved her into the driveway. Christina said she got on top of her and began to punch Christina several times while slamming her head into the concrete. Christina said she was too stunned to react for a second before she put her hands in front of her face to stop the punches. She doesn’t remember whether or not Mandy stopped on her own or if John pulled her off. Either way, she and John drove to a nearby gas station where they called the Leon County Sheriff’s Office for help.
From there, the deputy took both their statements and assessed her injuries before telling Christina that she should drive herself to the hospital. Christina said that she knew the hospital would be expensive, so she instead drove home and took pictures of her injuries.
In the following days, she went to her personal doctor and he noted a fractured front tooth, black eye, concussion, abrasions to the legs and arms, and bruises from where Mandy gripped her by the biceps and slammed her head on the concrete, Christina said. According to the report, Mandy had no injuries and told deputies that Christina attempted to kick her while lying on the ground.
Christina thought she had a rock solid case — she was in contact with the victim advocates for both the Sheriff’s Office and SAO immediately — with all the evidence on her side. She thought there was no way they could let her assailant get away with anything less than potential jail time.
“From the start I was in contact constantly with the victim advocate with LCSO, then the victim advocate with the SAO,” she said in an email. “I was painfully aware that if I didn’t keep on them, this might fall through the cracks.”
Click to Read the Redacted Report
Unfortunately, the nightmare didn’t stop there.
Email documents obtained by Noled Out show that at almost every turn, the SAO either ignored or even went directly against Christina’s requests. The emails span from October 2012 to May 2013 and detail just how much of an uphill battle it was for Christina to get anything resolved with the case.
When she was first contacting the victims advocate, Christina kept having to remind her that she wanted to pursue the case in court. After communicating with Helene Potlock, Christina was advised to email Rebecca Ramage.
Christina emailed Ramage on October 29th with the description of her case and the gruesome photos that it included. Ramage’s initial email back seems to alleviate some of the worry that Christina had: She says they will not nolle prossed, which is a form of dismissal, the case and they would call her later to describe the upcoming arraignment for Mandy.
They never called, according to Christina. Christina said that the arraignment was set for November 1st at 1:30 P.M. After waiting a week for an update on the situation, she finally emailed Ramage on November 8th looking for any more information. Ramage emails back, saying that Mandy entered a plea of not guilty and it had been set for case management in December. Ramage claimed she would “be in touch soon” and also said she would try to call Christina the next day. She never did, according to Christina.
It should be noted at this point that Christina was in the middle of moving from Tallahassee to New York, and was also caring for her ailing father. Whatever effort she was putting into the case was adding to an already stressful time in her personal life.
It was December 14th when Christina emailed Ramage again and asked her for any information on her case. She responded three days later saying that the case was stagnant because Mandy was representing herself for a while. She then told Christina that after meeting with the investigators, they were not able to bump it up to a felony charge.
There’s one big problem: Neither Christina nor her doctor were ever contacted by any investigators. The decision to not make it a felony seems wholly odd considering that the statutes in Florida outline that a felony battery causes “…great bodily harm or permanent disability or disfigurement to the victim”. Christina had multiple bleeding wounds, scars, and fractured teeth, all of which would clearly fall under the requirements for a misdemeanor to turn into a felony.
The last correspondence in 2012 is on December 27th with Ramage once again assuring Christina that their office will keep in touch. The next time they speak is on February 6th when Christina reaches out to try and see what has occurred with her case. Ramage emails back saying that the motion hearing is scheduled for the next week on the 12th.
At this point, Christina lived more than five hours away and said she had not received any subpoena or notification about what was happening. When Christina points this out, Ramage then explains that she had been out of the office for her weeding and honeymoon, but Christina said she had never received this information. She is informed that another attorney is handling her case and so she once again starts emailing Helene Potlock.
It is February 11th when Christina sends emails trying to clarify what she will be needed for at the motion hearing. Potlock then informs her that they would like to have her medical release forms, and also tells her that a continuance might be granted. Christina is finally told later that it has indeed been pushed back, so she won’t have to go up to Tallahassee on the 12th. She is then told that the new hearing date is on March 19th.
On March 15th, Christina voices her displeasure about the idea of Mandy getting a deferred prosecution. She is confused by an earlier conversation on the phone with an investigator where they say Mandy would likely be found not guilty based on the current evidence. She points out how the only supposed witness is on her side and how she has the injuries to back up her story. Potlock responds and informs her that she is on vacation for two weeks — right before the trial — and that Christina should contact someone else if she wants updates on the situation.
Almost a month passed. Christina emails Potlock again on April 9th after not hearing a single detail about what had happened. She finally gets an explanation on the 15th from Potlock: They had signed a deferred prosecution agreement that would lead to a nolle prossed — the exact thing they swore they would not do at the beginning of their correspondence. Potlock then apparently tries to lighten the load by telling Christina that she will be reimbursed approximately $88 for medical costs.
Yet another problem: This amount is about $117 short of the actual costs Christina emailed to the attorneys. She sent them three more bills on the 15th that included X-Rays for her fractured tooth from the incident and scar treatment. They were either forgotten or ignored.
At this point, Christina attempted to reach out to Willie Meggs to voice her displeasure with how the office he commands had treated her. At almost every juncture, it was Christina who had to reach out for updates on her case, and multiple times prosecutors for any number of reasons seemingly cast her aside. Throughout the whole process she said she was ignored, misled, and confused by the treatment she received at the hands of people expected to help victims of a crime. She was hoping that maybe Willie Meggs would hear her cry for help.
When news broke in late June that freshman quarterback De’Andre Johnson had allegedly punched a female at a bar, speculation spread like wildfire as to what would happen to the third or fourth string player. A police report’s description of the incident gave the impression that Johnson was done before a warrant was even issued. The State Attorney’s Office said the security video supported her version of events where she acts in self-defense before Johnson punches her.
The video from the bar was released on July 7th and a debate immediately erupted. Instead of an open-and-shut case that was alluded to in the initial police report, viewers of the video watched as Johnson approached the bar for a drink before getting confronted by the alleged victim. She is the first to say something directly to him before eventually turning his way and continuing an argument.
She then puts her left hand on his chest and raises her right fist, all while exchanging words that allegedly include racial slurs. Johnson attempts to restrain her by grabbing her arms. She then forces her left arm loose and attempts to punch Johnson in the face while also attempting to knee him in the groin. He responds (wrongly) by answering with a punch of his own before running away.
Many questioned whether or not the girl was going to face any sort of punishment for her own actions. She indeed appeared to be the first one to show physical aggression of any kind and escalated the situation at every turn. Meggs disagreed.
“A person’s entitled to use self-defense if they’re being battered by someone else, and she certainly was entitled to do what she did,” Meggs told the Tallahassee Democrat. “She didn’t commit a crime is the reason she’s not charged with a crime.”
In a later interview, reporter Ty Henry asks Meggs about his decision to not charge her with a crime. Specifically, he asks what Meggs meant when he said she was defending herself from battery by Johnson:
Henry asks: “I meant before that. You stated she was defending herself from a battery. Which of the initial acts constituted a battery? Was it the initial jostle? Him grabbing her arm to prevent her closed fist from hitting him? And what is a proportional response to the threat from a balled fist?”
Meggs responds: “We’re not gonna try the case in the papers, we’re gonna try the case in a court of law. Some may want to try the case in outside of court, but that’s not what we’re going to do.”
The Johnson case is still ongoing and the result is unknown, but it didn’t take long for Meggs to comment on another situation. Starting running back Dalvin Cook had a warrant issued for his arrest on July 10th after being accused of punching a woman multiple times outside of a bar during an argument on June 23rd. The national media once again erupted, and those familiar with the situation knew it wouldn’t take long for the State Attorney to weigh in.
The initial police report once again jotted down the contrasting versions of events that transpired that night. Both the alleged victim and one of the witnesses were intoxicated, as noted in the report.
Indeed, the affidavit of the incident notes that “Due to her level of intoxication, Officer Smidt said all her [sic] could understand from her at the time was that [name redacted] was not involved in the incident and that the male suspect had dreadlocks.” One of the only independent witnesses in the case was unable to identify Cook in a photographic lineup.
Meggs told ESPN that after meeting with the accuser and a witness on July 10th, he “…found the women to be very credible”. He reiterated this point in a CBS interview where he says, “They were very credible witnesses. They were very confident in their answers based on that interview”.
Yet, this same confidence was not relayed to Christina when she demanded that the State Attorney’s Office keep pursuing her case. In fact, Meggs makes it clear in his letter to Christina that he doesn’t believe her story partly because of her intoxication.
Part of his first paragraph says that she “…became intoxicated and left a bar with a man you just met.” Why the latter part would be relevant is undetermined, but regardless he first mentions her drinking there. Later on in the same letter he claims “It is unclear whether your level of intoxication contributed to your fall and the severity of your injuries”.
Meggs never mentions that Christina was instructed to drive herself to the hospital by deputies after she reported the incident. Even her written statement hardly looks like someone who has had a few drinks in their system. It is clearly legible and provides an understandable account of events. It’s also unclear how one could possibly connect her injuries to a simple fall.
Christina had a fractured tooth, bruised cheek, black eye, punctured palm, left arm abrasions, left knee abrasion, left knee swelling, cuts on both ankles, multiple bruises on her legs, finger grip bruises on both her biceps and triceps, and a concussion.
The woman in the Dalvin Cook case claims he punched her several times in the face, though some have pointed out that her injuries may not completely align with that claim. She said herself that all she had was a split lip and bruised knees. So why did Meggs decide she was more reliable than the woman who has severe injuries and the only witness on her side?
As is typical with Meggs however, he didn’t stop there. He tells Christina that she’s been given “…more consideration by this office than you deserve” and that she “…could have been charged with a crime as a result of this incident”. What charge would have been brought against her is unclear and it’s hard to see how she was given more consideration than she might deserve. The emails between her and the SAO would seem to suggest that she actually wasn’t given the proper amount of attention she needed.
“What I do know was there was no need for his letter, for the unprofessionalism, pettiness and truly mean way he addressed a victim after failing to get her justice, just because I asked his office for the courtesy of being kept in the loop on my case,” Christina told Noled Out. “They never met me, they didn’t review my documented medical records…I”m not sure they interviewed my witness other than his two sentence statement that night…”
In fact, the whole saga with Christina and her attack makes one wonder how her case would have gone if it had involved a football player. Would Meggs have treated her with the same dismissal? Would he have taken over the case from the start and tried to push it harder than the other attorneys did? Would they have followed their word to not nolle pros the case from the very beginning?
Christina consulted with an attorney about what else she could do — she felt humiliated by what had transpired with her case, and the letter from Meggs was adding insult to literal injury. She inquired about maybe making a bar complaint against him, but was told that she should not “mess with him”. Only her close friends knew about her experience until she approached Noled Out with her story. Recent events all but necessitated it:
“I’m pretty private but I can’t express the rage and hurt and sleepless nights that have returned since Meggs’ name has been in the news…”
It even brings up questions about previous cases that have involved Meggs and the State Attorney’s Office. What does it say about Erica Kinsman’s case against former Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston that Meggs — a state attorney with a penchant for going after football players — was unable to bring charges against him?
What does it say about his actions during the case against former FSU defensive tackle Travis Johnson, which ended with a not guilty decision in less than an hour of deliberation by an all-female jury? The recent narrative being dictated is that Tallahassee has an elaborate system for defending football players accused of crimes.
But Christina’s story mixed with recent events comes to a different conclusion: The State Attorney’s Office and Willie Meggs will go out of their way to prosecute crimes against football players while also depriving regular citizens of proper investigation.
This shouldn’t be too surprising considering some of Meggs’ past statements about football players and the standards he holds them to. Indeed, he has outright admitted that crimes involving athletes will get a different treatment than regular citizens or students. Whether this is justified or not is irrelevant to the fact that they also choose to not take other cases as seriously. That is, quite frankly, indefensible.
After being a State Attorney for so long, it will be relieving for some to know that Meggs is not committed to running for re-election in 2016. If he finishes his term and chooses to not enter the foray again, it will hopefully be a step towards progress in Tallahassee legal proceedings.
But for the foreseeable future, Meggs and his legacy will cast a long shadow over the city and the schools that he currently presides over. One can only hope that whoever takes over in the next year will have a better method of responding to these situations.
