LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lawyers for NBA star Derrick Rose and two friends accused of raping an incapacitated woman doubled down Wednesday on their assertions that the accuser willingly had sex with the trio, saying she performed sex acts on the men earlier that night at Rose’s mansion in Beverly Hills.
In sharp contrast to the opening statement from the woman’s lawyer who called the case a “classic gang rape,” the defense described a scene for jurors in Los Angeles federal court that sounded like a porn movie. They said the woman performed lap dances by a pool earlier in the night at Rose’s place, had sex with two of them and then invited them back to her apartment.
“There was no gang rape,” attorney Mike Monico said. “There was no rape at all.”
The woman’s lawyer said the story about her having sex earlier in the night was false and concocted to try to show she was insatiable and wanted to have sex with the men later that night. He said the three got into her apartment after she passed out from drinking and raped her while she faded in and out of consciousness.
“The plaintiff will tell you all three men were in the bedroom at the same time,” attorney Waukeen McCoy said. “Each of them took turns raping her, they don’t even know who went first.”
As the incident was graphically described and jurors looked on with pained expressions, the 30-year-old woman leaned forward so her long dark hair covered her face and dabbed at her eyes with tissues.
The Associated Press is not naming her because it generally does identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault.
The jury of six women and two men will have to decide if the accuser consented to sex or was too intoxicated to do so.
Jurors will have to rely primarily on her word against that of Rose and the other two men. There is no physical evidence because the woman was not examined by a doctor afterward and did not report the rape to police for two years — after filing the $21 million suit.
Rose’s lawyer said the woman was after Rose for his money.
“It’s a sad effort to get a lottery hit,” attorney Mark Baute said.
Rose, 28, was traded to the New York Knicks this season after spending his previous seven years in his native Chicago with the Bulls. He’s in the final year of a five-year deal that will pay him $21.3 million.
The defense will focus on the many text messages she exchanged with Rose, whom she dated on and off for nearly two years.
The two were split up when she texted Rose out of the blue the morning of Aug. 26 that he makes her “horny.”
Rose replied by asking what she was doing that night and suggested she bring a friend over for a threesome. She rejected that idea, but agreed to bring a friend over later for drinks.
A clip from a deposition taken of Rose was played in which he was asked if there was anything in the text messages that led him to believe the plaintiff wanted to have sex with him and two friends that night.
He said, “No.”
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