Derrick Rose apparently saw his ongoing legal troubles coming more than three years before he went to civil court to defend himself against rape allegations.
The New York Knicks star testified on Tuesday that he had suspicions Jane Doe was interested in a payday just several hours after the incident in question took place, according to ESPN. Why? His accuser texted Rose the same day of the alleged attack claiming she was so drunk the previous night that she unknowingly burned her hands on a fire pit outside his rented Beverley Hills mansion.
Rose said he became suspicious of the woman when she texted later the same day of the alleged early morning attack in August 2013 to say how inebriated she had been and to describe burns she claimed she got on her hands from a fire pit outside his Beverly Hills house. Rose said he believed she was sober and never witnessed any burns the night before.
“It looked like a setup,” Rose said. “It turned out to be what I thought.”
That Doe suffered burns isn’t up for debate. According to Think Progress, Jessica Groff, a friend of the plaintiff who was with the parties involved mere hours before the alleged rape, said in her pre-trial deposition that it was “very obvious” Doe was heavily inebriated because she was playing with rocks from the fire for “no rational reason.” However, Rose’s testimony on Tuesday is the first time he’s suggested suspecting Doe of potential rape accusations in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
In another noteworthy exchange on Rose’s second day of testimony, attorney Waukeen McCoy preempted a question by referencing manners his mother had surely taught him growing up. The 27-year-old frustratedly interrupted the plaintiff’s representation and insisted that his mother be left out of the court room.
When attorney Waukeen McCoy began to ask Rose a question by saying that since his mother had taught him manners, Rose snapped back in a rare display of emotion during otherwise unflappable, matter-of-fact testimony.
“Was that a joke?” he said. “Don’t be playing on my mom like that, bro.”
Randall Hampton, a co-defendant also accused of raping Doe on August 27, 2013, testified on Tuesday as well. After he was questioned on apparent inconsistencies between details provided to the court by he and Rose, Hampton – a long-time friend of the 2011 MVP who also serves as his personal assistant – said Rose “has a hard time remembering things.”
Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald has yet to rule on the motion for a mistrial presented by the defense team.
(ESPN)