The available details regarding the pending civil sexual assault case against him do not paint Derrick Rose in a flattering light. With the trial currently set to open October 4th barring settlement more unfavorable information will assuredly come forth.
Today comes a story that Derrick Rose said he doesn’t understand what “consent” means. In a deposition on June 17th lawyers asked Rose about consent. One of Jane Doe’s (the plaintiff does not want to be named) lawyers read aloud that previously unknown section of Rose’s sworn deposition during a press conference call. This is the segment that was read aloud to reporters on the call:
Question: Do you have an understanding as to the word consent?
Derrick Rose: No. But can you tell me?
Question: I just wanted to know if you had an understanding,
Derrick Rose: No.
In response to an request from Think Progress for comment yesterday, Rose’s attorneys “did not deny that during his deposition, Rose did not not know the definition of consent”, but are confident that evidence will be presented demonstrating that the plaintiff’s consent was clear.
The known evidence against Rose sounds bad, but it’s impossible to know his guilt without a trial. Even then, the case to be heard is a civil lawsuit, meaning the burden of proof is not nearly as stringent as in a criminal trial. The burden is “the preponderance of evidence” rather than “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Furthermore, the case is to be decided by a judge, not a jury. Therefore, even if Rose is found guilty and ordered to pay the plaintiff or if the case is settled prior to the trial, Rose’s actual guilt will not necessarily be beyond doubt.
However, it is not doubtful that Derrick Rose does not know the meaning of the word “consent”. That’s not a knock against him in this particular case. Rather it’s an acknowledgement that Derrick Rose is off, and kind of stupid. Evidence below:
- Rose had someone else take the SATs for him.
- On sitting out games: “I’m thinking about after I’m done with basketball…having graduations to go to, having meetings to go to. I don’t want to be in my meetings all sore or be at my (2-year-old) son’s graduation all sore just because of something I did in the past.”
- After missing almost 2 full seasons due to injury and being objectively bad once he returned: “There’s a lot of people that don’t know I’m great, but it’s cool. I know I can hoop.”
- On his impending free agency, in 2 years: “As far as the money they’re passing out in this league — just telling the truth — and knowing my day will be coming up soon. It’s not for me. It’s for P.J. (his son) and his future. So that’s what I’m thinking about right now.”
- When he had been cleared to return from ACL surgery but refused to play: “It could be tomorrow (when) I feel like I can play the next game. Nobody knows but God.”
- And this piece of a deposition on why he and his friends went to the plaintiff’s apartment on the night of the alleged assault:
In other words, Rose probably doesn’t understand the meaning of “consent”. He literally doesn’t understand what it means.
Armchair Midrash 