Jury Hears Closing Arguments in Derrick Rose Case
Mike Tierney, 10/18/2016
LOS ANGELES — A jury heard pointed closing arguments on Tuesday in a lawsuit accusing Derrick Rose and two friends of raping a woman in her apartment three years ago.
The woman’s lawyers portrayed the encounter this way: Rose, the N.B.A. star who was acquired by the Knicks this summer, and two longtime friends broke into the apartment and raped her. The defendants’ team insisted the men were welcomed in for consensual sex.
The woman’s lead lawyer, Waukeen McCoy, called the three men “sexual deviants,” while one of Rose’s lawyers referred to him as “one of the nicest young men I have met.”
The eight members of the jury will decide which side of the story they believe when they begin deliberations Wednesday. The woman sued for more than $21 million in damages, though no amount was stipulated on Tuesday.
Lawyers for each side repeatedly used two-word mantras during their final remarks in a trial that has lasted two weeks. McCoy maintained that the defense was trying to “slut-shame” the woman, degrading her for sexual activity. The woman testified earlier in the trial that she had been incapacitated by alcohol and possibly drugs, rendering her unable to grant consent.
Mark Baute, a lawyer for Rose, called the woman’s case a “fake suit,” saying her claims of pain and suffering were “a hoax and a joke.”
The two sides painted different pictures of the relationship between Rose and the woman, who dated for about 20 months but separated about a month before the encounter at her apartment. McCoy indicated that the woman had regarded their connection as serious, while Baute portrayed it as “purely sexual in nature.”
McCoy said, “She could not understand how a person she dated for a year and a half and who cared for her could take advantage of her while she was highly intoxicated.”
The other defendants, Randall Hampton and Ryan Allen, said during testimony that they had sex with the woman for the first time one night in 2013 at the Beverly Hills house where all three men were living temporarily.
There were also differing accounts of who had initiated the encounter early the next morning at the woman’s apartment. The woman said she did not recall sending them text messages before passing out in her bed. The men’s lawyers asserted that the messages were intended to invite the men over and that the clear wording in the messages was evidence of sobriety.
McCoy also brought up Rose’s wealth, alluding to Rose as “the 1 percent.” He added, “He is not above the law, and he should be treated like everyone else.”
Baute countered by saying that “the only reason we are here is because it’s Derrick Rose and she wants some of his money.”
Baute boiled down the evening and early morning in 2013 to “20-somethings doing what all 20-somethings do all over the country.” He referred to Rose, 28, as “a kid.”
McCoy responded by saying “no one has that much sex” voluntarily, referring to his client.
Baute also suggested that the woman’s lawyers were subtly using terminology that hinted at racial stereotyping. The defendants are African-American, and the accuser is Latina.
McCoy, who is African-American, reacted to the charge with a simple “Wow.”
Rose will miss his fifth straight exhibition game Wednesday night and, depending on how quickly the jury reaches a decision, might be absent from the Knicks’ preseason finale on Thursday.
He could enter the regular season, which begins next Tuesday, with only one game played as a Knick.