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Derrick Rose's accuser appeals verdict in civil rape case

Dan Devine
·Senior NBA writer
Former NBA MVP Derrick Rose faced his accuser in an alleged gang-rape trial last month. (AP)
Former NBA MVP Derrick Rose faced his accuser in an alleged gang-rape trial last month. (AP)

The woman who lost a civil lawsuit in which she accused New York Knicks point guard Derrick Rose and two of his friends of raping her in 2013 filed an appeal of that verdict on Thursday.

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A Los Angeles jury found last month that Rose, Ryan Allen and Randall Hampton should not be held liable on any charges in the civil case brought by the plaintiff, a 30-year-old woman identified in court documents as “Jane Doe,” who had a non-exclusive sexual relationship with Rose from late 2011 through July 2013.

She alleged the three men placed a drug into her drink during a party at Rose’s Beverly Hills rental home; that, after taking a cab home, she needed the cab’s driver to walk her to her front door; that she remembered throwing up and passing out in her bedroom with her clothes on; and that she remembered little else about the early hours of Aug. 27, 2013 — besides Rose, Hampton and Allen being in her apartment without her letting them in, Rose having sex with her, and then Hampton and Allen later having sex with her while Rose watched. Due to her incapacitated state, she claimed, she had been unable to consent to sex.

The three defendants testified that Doe had urged them to go to her house after the party, that she’d let them into her apartment herself, and that they took turns having consensual sex with the woman in her room. The jury reached its verdict after three hours and 45 minutes of deliberation, with the six-woman, two-man panel clearing Rose, Allen and Hampton on all counts.

The accuser chose to file an appeal before Friday’s 30-day deadline after the conclusion of the case “on the grounds that damning testimony should have been excluded and other evidence should have been admitted at trial,” according to The Associated Press:

“We combed the records, looked at the transcripts and I think the judge misapplied the rape shield law and, in doing so, abused his discretion,” the woman’s lawyer, Waukeen McCoy, told The Associated Press.

Rape shield laws limit or prohibit evidence of a victim’s past sexual history to be introduced in a case, though there are exceptions to the rule.

McCoy said the judge should have excluded testimony by the Knicks point guard and his friends who said the woman willingly engaged in sex with them earlier in the evening at Rose’s house because it was irrelevant to the later incident.

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After the verdict, multiple jurors told reporters they didn’t find the plaintiff credible or that there was enough evidence presented to support her claims of gang rape. Several also posed with Rose for photos:

The plaintiff had been suing Rose for $21.5 million in damages. The “not liable” verdict meant Rose didn’t have to pay any money out to his accuser.

It was revealed earlier this week that Rose, Allen and Hampton are trying to recoup $70,000 in court costs from the woman, as is the right of the prevailing party in a civil case. Lawyers for Rose’s accuser asked the judge to rule against the $70,000 award, citing her “limited resources,” the possibility that such a ruling would act as a deterrent for future litigants and an ex-prosecutor’s assertion that, “I’d probably have had a better chance prosecuting the President of the United States than an athlete.” Lawyers for Rose said they expected an appeal of the initial verdict, “which will be meritless, frivolous, and sanctionable.”

In late September, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed they were conducting a criminal investigation of the alleged rape. It remains open, though an LAPD spokesman said this week that “there has been no determination by the district attorney here as to whether it will proceed.”

Rose said he was unaware of the appeal when asked about it after the Knicks’ Thursday loss to the Washington Wizards.

“I’ll let my legal team deal with it,” he said, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. “I didn’t expect to be sued in the first place but I’ll let my legal team deal with it.’’

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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