While Derrick Rose‘s civil trail stemming from a sexual assault lawsuit is set to begin on October 4, the new Knicks point guard also hasn’t yet been cleared from facing criminal charges. According to a letter from the Los Angeles Police Department, published by TheWhiteBronco.com, the LAPD has an open criminal investigation into Rose, and continues to look into the complaint filed against him by his “Jane Doe” accuser.
The judge in Rose’s civil case ruled that the identity of his accuser must be revealed during the trial. Her lawyer has urged the judge to reconsider that ruling, and as Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News writes, the LAPD’s letter will be used to make that case — Detective Nadine Hernandez said in the letter that the accuser’s identity will remain confidential throughout the LAPD’s investigation.
“The ability to offer anonymity to victims of sex crimes is an invaluable investigative aid to investigators as well as a great comfort to victims of crimes of such a sensitive nature,” Hernandez wrote in the letter.
It remains to be seen how Rose’s civil trial will play out or whether the LAPD’s criminal investigation will result in any charges. Still, while Knicks president Phil Jackson recently downplayed the impact the case(s) will have on Rose and the team, the point guard will likely have to miss portions of New York’s camp and preseason due to the trial, raising questions about the lack of homework the Knicks did on the case prior to acquiring Rose in June.
What they need to do is investigate themselves, they one of the most corrupt police departments in the country… Oink Oink…
How would you know?
Hope he’s found guilty and plays for the guards
“Lack of homework” LOL. How cute.
The Knicks knew all about this and don’t care (yet). It’s not a criminal charge, and Rose is only on the roster for only this year. His job is to sell tickets for MSG.
Are tickets not being bought because of this? If that ever becomes the case, the Knicks can sit or suspend him then, to appease the critics. Phil knows exactly what he’s doing.
If there is no criminal charge, then the facts of the clear to not demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt. A civil suit standard is less–a preponderance of the evidence means that a jury just needs to believe that it is more likely than not. In other words, the jury doesn’t have to be entirely sure that it actually happened. Whereas a prosecutor—actually, an office of prosecutors–have decided that there isn’t enough evidence to charge.
Should your employer treat you consistently with the prosecutor’s office, or should your employer treat you consistently with how the plaintiff’s lawyer wants you to be treated before there’s even a trial?
For all we know, it could’ve been rape. Shame on him if it was. But that fact has not been established criminally or even through a civil trial of his or her peers. Yet, the Knicks are supposed to do or not do something adverse to their own interests based on allegations. Maybe its the media that needs to some homework?
The Knicks certainly knew about the civil case, but Jackson’s comments in the wake of the deal suggest they didn’t look all that hard at it (he said himself they didn’t “investigate”), which is what I was referring to as the “lack of homework.” Maybe a more thorough look at the situation wouldn’t have turned up anything that made them back out of the trade, but I don’t think it reflects all that well on them that they didn’t try (or that they tried and simply didn’t care).
It’s true that Rose hasn’t been charged or convicted of anything, but the civil trial is ongoing and the criminal investigation is still open, so it’s not as if he’s in the clear either. We’ve seen plenty of teams avoid players embroiled in legal trouble because of the potential risk (for instance, every NFL team passing on La’el Collins in the draft last year when he was being questioned in connection to a murder, even though it didn’t seem as if he was involved). The Knicks have no obligation to do that, but I mean… it’s not as if he was on their roster when this happened. They went out of their way to acquire him. I think it’s fair to question why they didn’t investigate further, or why they felt they didn’t need to.
So glad the Bulls dumped this guy. Good riddance.
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