NBA Star Derrick Rose Rape Lawsuit: Verdict, Appeal, and Charges

A federal jury in Los Angeles found Derrick Rose not liable in the civil rape lawsuit brought against him by a former girlfriend, clearing the NBA star and two co-defendants on October 19, 2016, after roughly three hours of deliberation. The plaintiff, who sued as Jane Doe, had sought $21.5 million in damages over an August 2013 encounter at her Los Angeles apartment. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the verdict on appeal in December 2018.

Who Sued Rose and What They Alleged

The plaintiff filed suit on September 24, 2015, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California as Jane Doe v. Derrick Rose, Case No. 2:15-cv-07503.¹ Along with Rose, she named his personal assistant Randall Hampton and a friend, Ryan Allen, who had previously been cut by the Chicago Bulls as a prospective player.² U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald presided.

She alleged that the three men came to her Los Angeles apartment in the early morning hours of August 27, 2013, and raped her while she was incapacitated by drugs or alcohol and unable to consent.³ Her claims included sexual battery, battery, trespass, violation of California’s gender violence law, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.⁴ She testified she had been drinking earlier that evening at Rose’s Beverly Hills mansion, felt intoxicated and possibly drugged, and woke to find the three men having sex with her.²

The Case Was Only About Consent

Neither side disputed that sexual activity took place. The single question for the jury was whether the plaintiff had consented.

That framing was set months before trial. In July 2016, Judge Fitzgerald denied a defense motion for summary judgment, finding a “genuine dispute of material fact” on the consent question and noting that text messages the defense cited as evidence of consent were “open to interpretation.”⁵

Rose’s own words on consent became one of the case’s most-quoted moments. During a June 2016 deposition, asked to define the term, he replied, “No, can you tell me?” At trial he said he had been nervous in the deposition and understood consent to mean both parties being in agreement.⁶ Asked in the same deposition why the men had gone to the plaintiff’s home in the middle of the night, Rose said: “No, but we men. You can assume. Like we leaving to go over to someone’s house at 1:00, there’s nothing to talk about.”⁵

What the Jury Heard

The trial took place in October 2016 before a jury of six women and two men. The plaintiff described her relationship with Rose as an on-and-off “friends with benefits” arrangement lasting about 20 months. On cross-examination she acknowledged she never saw any drugs the night of the incident, was never drug-tested, did not undergo a rape examination, and was not tested for pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.²

Rose testified the plaintiff appeared sober and had been making sexual advances all evening. He said he read a text from her, saying he was the reason she “wakes up horny,” as an invitation. According to Rose, the plaintiff came to his home, drank tequila, and acted aggressively before he left the room; he said he later saw a friend having sex with her and that she pulled him in to join. He also told jurors he believed he was being “set up” when the plaintiff texted him later complaining of burns from a fire pit, injuries he said he never saw.⁶

Text messages carried much of the case. The defense drew attention to messages from the plaintiff to a friend saying she needed “a very wealthy man,” and to a roommate suggesting they would upgrade their television after filing suit.² Defense lawyers also pointed to her first messages to Rose after the encounter, which concerned reimbursement for cab fare and a “sex belt,” as inconsistent with the account of an assault. The defense alleged three messages had been withheld, including a 1:36 a.m. text where she called Rose “babe.” Judge Fitzgerald called her handling of exhibits “unbelievably careless” and weighed a defense mistrial motion before letting the case go on.⁶

The defendants’ accounts did not fully align. Rose testified the plaintiff initiated oral sex with him while having intercourse with Hampton; Hampton testified Rose initiated that act. Hampton also described his role in booking the plaintiff’s travel to see Rose in other cities, saying flatly that the flights were arranged “to have sex.”⁶

The Verdict

The jury found Rose, Hampton, and Allen not liable on every claim. The civil standard required the plaintiff to prove her case by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more probable than not, a lower bar than the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard used in criminal trials.

A juror identified as Jared told reporters the panel found the defendants “genuine and honest” and did not find the plaintiff credible, saying her crying on the stand appeared “false” to them. The jury forewoman said the panel reviewed all of the plaintiff’s evidence but concluded “there was not enough.”³

The Ninth Circuit Appeal

The plaintiff appealed on November 17, 2016, arguing that pertinent evidence had been excluded and that jury instructions were tainted.⁷ The Ninth Circuit heard argument in Pasadena in November 2018.⁸

On December 10, 2018, a three-judge panel of Circuit Judges Gould, Parker, and Murguia affirmed the trial court’s judgment. The panel upheld Judge Fitzgerald’s evidentiary rulings, including his admission of the “sex belt” text messages, photos from a Las Vegas trip, and other texts used to address the plaintiff’s intoxication claims. It found no abuse of discretion, saying the sex belt texts “were intertwined with evidence of Doe’s alleged sexual activity earlier in the night” and helped the defense present its theory and impeach the plaintiff’s credibility.⁹ The panel denied the defendants’ request for sanctions, finding the appeal was not frivolous.¹⁰

Criminal Charges and What Followed

No criminal charges were ever filed against Rose, Hampton, or Allen. An LAPD investigation was reportedly pending at the time of the civil verdict.¹¹ The file does not report any charges resulting from that investigation.

Rose was playing for the New York Knicks when the verdict came in and kept playing in the NBA afterward, including stints with the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons, before announcing his retirement on September 26, 2024.¹²¹³¹⁴

1
CourtListener. Jane Doe v. Derrick Rose
2
The Guardian. Derrick Rose Rape Trial Testimony
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ESPN. Derrick Rose Found Not Liable in Sexual Assault Civil Trial
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Sports Illustrated. Derrick Rose Found Not Liable in Civil Sexual Assault Lawsuit
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CBS Sports. A Timeline of Derrick Rose’s Evolving Sexual Assault Case
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ESPN. Derrick Rose Testifies He Thought He Was Being Set Up
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Bleacher Report. Derrick Rose’s Accuser Files Appeal
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Newsweek. Derrick Rose Accuser’s Appeal to Be Heard in Pasadena
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FindLaw. Jane Doe v. Derrick Rose
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Metropolitan News-Enterprise. Ninth Circuit Affirms Defense Verdict in Rose Case
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NPR. Jury Finds NBA Star Derrick Rose Not Liable in Civil Rape Trial
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The Athletic. Derrick Rose Retirement
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Sports Illustrated. Derrick Rose Adidas Contract Terms and Payment Clauses
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CBS Sports. Derrick Rose and His Friends Are Still Making Money From Adidas