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Sports: Derrick Rose Cleared Of All Counts In Rape Trial

Derrick Rose

Photo Credit: Damian Dovarganes, AP

New York Knicks star point guard Derrick Rose was cleared on all counts Wednesday in a Los Angeles civil court case involving allegations of sexual assault.

Rose and two friends, Randall Hampton and Ryan Allen, were accused of sexually assaulting a woman — referred to Jane Doe in court records to protect her identity — on Aug. 27, 2013 while she was incapacitated.

Rose, however, said at Knicks Media Day last month he wasn’t “worried” because he knew he would be proven innocent. Criminal charges were never filed by the Los Angeles Police Department but there is a pending investigation into the matter.

An LAPD detective investigating the case was fatally shot last week. Investigators said “there is no indication that her case work had any connection to her death.”

Doe was seeking more than $21 million in damages ($6 million in compensatory; $15.5 million in punitive), and Rose chose not to settle, electing to go through with a trial that started Oct. 4. The former NBA Rookie of the Year missed several practices and all but one preseason game during the proceedings.

In the complaint filed on Nov. 15, 2015, Doe alleged the “defendants drugged Plaintiff at Defendant’s residence, and, after Plaintiff’s friend helped her get home safely in a cab, Defendants trespassed in to Plaintiff’s apartment while Plaintiff was asleep and each sexually assaulted and raped her.”

Rose and Doe were in an an open relationship for two years, but it ended months before the alleged rape. Both sides agreed that on the night of the alleged incident, Rose invited Doe and a friend to his Beverly Hills home, where they consumed alcohol with Allen and Hampton and the NBA player himself. Both sides also agreed that sex occurred on the night in question.

Doe, however, contended that she was intoxicated and drifted in and out of consciousness. She claimed suspicion she had been drugged.

The plaintiff testified she returned home, vomited and woke up with the three men in her bedroom.

The defense painted a far different picture. The three men say Doe sought out sexual relations with them aggressively and had planned for them to visit her. The defense leaned on suggestive text messages to support this argument. They claimed Doe opened the door to her building and gave no indication of being intoxicated when she led each man into the bedroom.

Rose, 28, was acquired from the Chicago Bulls in a summer blockbuster trade meant to solidify the Knicks’ long-problematic point guard spot. The Knicks’ season begins Tuesday in Cleveland against the defending-champion Cavaliers.

Source: USA Today

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