A federal civil jury cleared New York Knicks point guard Derrick Rose and two friends Wednesday of sexual assault accusations brought by a woman who had claimed they gang-raped her in 2013.
The woman said she and Rose met at a Hollywood party in 2011 and began a sexual relationship, but that one night the NBA star and two friends forced themselves on her while she was severely intoxicated and unable to consent. She had been seeking $21.5 million in damages.
The civil trial at U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles began Oct. 4.
"I am thankful that the jury understood and agreed with me," Rose said in a statement to The Associated Press. "This experience and my sensitivity to it was deep. I am ready to put this behind me and focus on my family and career."
The jury heard days of emotionally charged and dramatically opposing accounts of what happened that August night in 2013. The woman's lawyer says the three men conspired to attack her knowing she was incapacitated; the defense cast her as a jilted lover who decided to go after Rose's money when she was dumped.
Though neither side denied that there was a sexual encounter, the question is if the woman was intoxicated and whether or not she invited the men to her apartment. She claims to have been drifting in and out of consciousness — per the LA Times — and awoke late in the night to find the three men in her apartment. According to the men, she orchestrated the plan for them to come over.
The jury had no physical evidence to support either side's claims. The women and men relied heavily on a series of text messages and phone calls exchanged between them.
"All three men were innocent from Day 1," Mark Baute — Rose's attorney — said. "We're very happy that the system worked."
The other two men, Ryan Allen and Randall Hampton, are employed by the 28-year-old NBA star who started his career in his native Chicago — where he was rookie of the year and later the league's youngest-ever MVP — before being traded to New York.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.