Judge refuses to declare mistrial in Derrick Rose rape case
LOS ANGELES — Lawyers for a woman accusing NBA star Derrick Rose and two of his friends of rape failed to disclose text messages to the defence, but the lapse was not significant enough to throw out the case or declare a mistrial, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Lawyers for Rose had argued that the plaintiff’s lawyers purposely withheld three texts until the woman was done testifying so the defence couldn’t question her about messages that showed the night in question had been planned for sex and that she was talking the next day about being reimbursed for cab fare and not accusing anyone of rape.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald said the accuser’s legal team had failed its legal obligation to share the texts, but there was a “minimal amount of prejudice” against Rose and his friends. He said he would instruct jurors that the texts were disclosed recently and allow defence lawyers to question the accuser about the messages.
“I’m not going to dismiss it now,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m not going to declare a mistrial when we have a jury in the box.”