Knicks guard Derrick Rose was found not liable on all counts today in the civil suit accusing him and two friends of gang-raping a woman in 2013. Rose’s two friends, Ryan Allen and Randall Hampton, were cleared on all counts as well.
Rose was mostly emotionless as the not-liable verdicts were read on claims including sexual battery, battery, trespassing, conspiracy, gender violence and emotional distress, staring at his hands during the reading and closing his eyes and tilting his head back once it was over. Jane Doe had her head in her hands through the whole reading.
Mark Baute, Rose’s lawyer, said all three men were innocent from day one. “The system worked,” he said. Baute added that he was very disappointed in the media coverage, and that “all the reporting is biased” against Rose because he is a black man.
Rose only answered one question when reporters talked to him on the steps outside the federal courthouse, replying to a question about the case with how he was going to “focus on the season.” After that Baute answered for him, even after one reporter asked why Rose wasn’t answering. Baute then asked if there were any other “substantial questions,” and as reporters called out several, Baute and Rose walked away without responding.
Mike Monico, lawyer for the other two defendants, said it is a horrible time for sexual assault in America right now, but he is glad the jury was able to overlook that in this case. Said Monico, “it’s amazing that one woman and a false claim can cause this much difficulty for these men.”
Waukeen McCoy, the lawyer for Jane Doe, said he doesn’t see how the jury could have reached the conclusion it did. He told reporters “a celebrity can come to court and slut shame a plaintiff.”
The jury initially declined to speak to reporters, but later two jurors—identifying themselves by first name only—agreed to. Jared said Doe “didn’t do any of the steps to prove her own case” and “nothing added up to a correct statement.” Jared felt like Doe “was playing us,” and he believed witness Gabriel Chavez, who testified that Doe was a liar. In contrast, Jared said Rose and his friends seemed “genuine” and “honest.”
When the jurors deliberated over the verdict, they “considered all evidence based on the facts” according to Jared, and at first tried to “prove the plaintiff correct” before deciding, but felt like they couldn’t. He said factors for the jury were Doe blacking out, her alcohol drinking, and not getting a hair test done to test for date rape drugs, before adding that three years having passed since the alleged incident was not a factor, except for how it affected witnesses’ ability to remember what happened. “She made her choices that night,” he added.
A juror named John echoed what Jared said, telling reporters there was “no true evidence.” The lies Jane Doe told in her text messages were a factor for John, as well as her asking Rose for money. “That was questionable for me,” he said.
Jared said he doesn’t watch sports, while John said he did but wasn’t a Rose fan. After speaking with reporters, both went back inside to get their pictures taken with Rose and his attorney Mark Baute.
The judge had comments too. He gave his best wishes to the woman and her family and wished her well in future studies. He gave his best wishes to Rose as well, except for one particular set of circumstances.
He also pointed out Hampton and Allen, mentioning “the loyalty they have shown” to Rose.
The trial had stretched out over more than two weeks in the downtown federal courthouse in Los Angeles, culminating in closing arguments in which each side accused the other of being liars. At issue was what happened in the early hours of Aug. 27, 2013, in the woman’s apartment in Los Angeles.
Both sides agree she went over to Rose’s place in Beverly Hills with a friend where she had some shots of tequila. In Doe’s account, she got home, vomited, and passed out on her bed in her dress. She woke up with her dress around her neck and lube everywhere, trying to figure out what had happened to her. According to Rose and his friends, the woman let them in and then agreed to have sex with all three of them, even calling the shots as to how things would go in the bedroom, as lawyer Mark Baute said in closing arguments.
Accounts from witnesses varied too. Two of the woman’s roommates said she seemed off the next day, and a former co-worker was so worried by her account of what happened he told her to call a lawyer, who in turn told her to call the police. But a former friend called Doe a liar multiple times on the stand, and another ex-roommate who, in a video deposition played for the jury, said she purposely gave text messages to Baller Alert because she thought what Doe was doing was “morally wrong.”
A criminal investigation remains active. Last week, one LAPD detective on the case was found fatally shot in her home. Investigators have said they believe the detective’s death was a suicide, and in a statement said “there is no indication that her case work had any connection to her death.”
This post has been updated to include additional information that followed the initial publication.