Major Harding to hear Jameis Winston student conduct case

Retired Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Major Harding has been chosen to be the hearing officer in the student conduct code case involving Florida State star quarterback Jameis Winston.

Harding said he isn't sure if the FSU student conduct code hearing he'll take up is Winston's because he hasn't received anything in writing from FSU identifying Winston by name.

"I don't know for sure," he told the Democrat. "But I assume that it is."

Harding's appointment is the latest development in the ongoing saga involving Winston and a fellow student who accused him of sexually assaulting her at his off-campus apartment on Dec. 7, 2012. The case turned high-profile when it reopened in the middle of last season as the undefeated Seminoles were marching toward a national championship and Winston went on to win the Heisman Trophy. State Attorney Willie Meggs decided not to move forward with charges last December.

But earlier this month, the university sent Winston and his Atlanta-based attorney David Cornwell a letter saying he potentially faced up to four student conduct code violations related to the incident. He was given five class days to request an information session and was told it would be heard by one of three prominent Florida judges who included Harding, fellow former Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Wells and 11th Circuit Judge Joseph Hatchett.

Attorneys for Winston and the woman confirmed with the Democrat last week that they both struck one of the three judges from the list, but didn't confirm which one. The university said if the same justice was struck by both parties, it would choose between the remaining two.

It is uncertain when the hearing will take place as the Seminoles continue a 23-game winning streak. Harding said he did not know when the hearing would be held.

Cornwell and an attorney for the woman did not respond to Democrat inquiries.

Harding served on the state's highest court for 11 years from 1991 to 2002, and was chief justice from 1998 to 2000. He wrote a series of important court decisions, including a unanimous opinion overturning a law designed to speed up the death penalty process and another that upheld a state rule against paying for most medically necessary abortions. He served as a juvenile judge and a circuit judge in Jacksonville before moving up to the state Supreme Court. He is currently a shareholder at the Tallahassee-based law firm Ausley McMullen.

A North Carolina native, Harding received undergraduate and law degrees from Wake Forest University and a master's degree from the University of Virginia.