Chris Graham: The tweeting lawyer and Jameis Winston

 

ESPN’s Heather Cox asked Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston about the sexual assault investigation that threatened to derail his Heisman Trophy candidacy and his future as a free man following FSU’s 45-7 win over Duke in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday.

Cox said she was given the green light to talk with Winston after the game and to ask questions about the investigation by FSU’s sports media relations department.

That fact seems to have escaped Winston’s lawyer, Tim Jansen, who took to Twitter to demand an apology from Cox.

@heatherespn your actions after the game w my client were inappropriate and unprofessional. Ur actions were deliberate.

— Tim Jansen (@rtimjansen) December 8, 2013

 

@Coreyfuller4 forgot she was on Espn and ambushed Jameis w inappropriate questions on the sidelines after the game. Poor decision and timing

— Tim Jansen (@rtimjansen) December 8, 2013

@heatherespn when u realize ur actions were improper u can make amends. Please write me a note to Jameis and his family to apologize.

— Tim Jansen (@rtimjansen) December 8, 2013

Six hours has passed and I have not received any note, message, call or other correspondence from Ms Cox. I will update if she writes.

— Tim Jansen (@rtimjansen) December 8, 2013

Cox did not apologize. She did defend her questioning, also on Twitter.

FSU agreed to an interview with no restrictions & were aware the topic had to be addressed. I was doing my job. http://t.co/pCeYSpw0tA

— Heather Cox (@heatherespn) December 9, 2013

Until I heard about this, I was actually in Winston’s corner with respect to the investigation, but I have a very different opinion now after seeing his lawyer go on the attack.

It’s not hard to see the star and his attorney pushing their weight around to get an investigation quashed now when you see the attorney having a tantrum on Twitter over what was hardly a difficult line of questioning from a sideline reporter after a football game.

To say that Winston would have been better off if his lawyer had kept his mouth shut, or in this case, his thumbs in his pockets, is to understate things quite a bit.