After deliberating for just three hours, a Los Angeles jury Wednesday cleared of Knicks point guard Derrick Rose of all counts in a high-profile civil rape trial, as reported by those in the courtroom. His co-defendants, Randall Hampton and Ryan Allen, also were cleared by the jury.
This means Rose will pay nothing to the woman who brought the lawsuit. This was a civil trial only, not a criminal one — there was no potential jail time involved. The Los Angeles Police Department does have an open investigation into the case.
BREAKING: Derrick Rose says he's thankful jury that rejected rape lawsuit "understood and agreed with me."
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 19, 2016
A former girlfriend of Rose’s filed the lawsuit tied to a 2013 incident in Beverly Hills. (We will not publish the name of a woman in a sexual assault case, although because it was a civil trial the judge did use it in the courtroom.)
The suit claimed that Rose and two friends gang-raped the woman at her apartment when she was too intoxicated — she admits to drinking and thinks she was drugged — and could not give consent. She sued for $21.5 million. Rose and his attorneys claimed the sex was consensual, that the woman had sex with the men earlier in the night as well, and that the woman was seeking a payday.
The issue of consent was at the heart of the case — Rose said she consented, the woman said she was in no condition to give informed consent. Both sides tried to use texts between the participants that night to bolster their case. The jury ultimately sided with Rose.
The case was laid out in graphic detail by both sides in the courtroom, and while Rose was found not liable the image of him and his friends that night — by their own admissions to what did go down — was not pretty. In fact, what came out in depositions and in court was flat-out misogynistic. This hurt his brand, but Rose has long been less concerned about that than most any other NBA player. He did what he felt was right in this case.
How much this hangs over the head of Rose and is a cloud over the Knicks this season remains to be seen. Rose will not play in Thursday’s final New York preseason game according to Jeff Hornacek, but he will join the team, and they will try to catch him up on what he missed the past couple of weeks. The Knicks tip-off the season on the road Oct. 25 in Cleveland, watching the Cavaliers raise their championship banner and get their rings.