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Derrick Rose faces his tearful accuser during a disturbing first day in court

Ben Rohrbach
Former NBA MVP Derrick Rose arrives at court to face his accuser in an alleged gang-rape trial. (AP)
Former NBA MVP Derrick Rose arrives at court to face his accuser in an alleged gang-rape trial. (AP)

Details from the first day of testimony by Derrick Rose’s ex-girlfriend were as disturbing as one might expect in a civil lawsuit accusing the former NBA MVP and two friends of a drug-induced gang-rape.

The New York Knicks point guard arrived 45 minutes into his accuser’s testimony, and the 30-year-old woman soon began crying as she detailed her allegations against the three men, according to reports.

If you’ve been following the case since it materialized as a $21 million civil lawsuit in August 2015, the accuser’s recollection of a night two years prior has already been well publicized in court documents and media interviews. According to The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, among a horde of publications present on the third day of the trial, Thursday’s testimony stuck to the same story.

The woman told the court she nervously consumed vodka, wine and tequila, respectively, before, en route to and during a party at a Beverly Hills home rented by Rose, who she had not seen in months. Rose entered the court as the woman testified to believing she had also been drugged. “I never felt like that before,” she said, comparing this night to others she had consumed alcohol in this manner.

Testifying to the brief moments she could remember, the woman said she took a taxi home from the party, vomited in her bathroom, passed out on her bed and was raped in the middle of the night by three men — Rose, Ryan Allen (Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen’s younger brother) and Randall Hampton (Rose’s best friend since childhood). The following morning, she awoke at 7 a.m., with her dress from the night before around her neck and lube on her legs, according to her testimony.

After the jury broke for lunch and before beginning cross-examination, Rose’s lawyers, who claimed the sex was consensual, reportedly challenged the court about — of all things — the accuser’s crying.

Concentrating heavily on text messages the woman exchanged with Rose in the time periods between her hazy recollection during their cross-examination, Rose’s lawyers aimed to cast doubt on her credibility. At the heart of this exchange was the accuser’s concession that she already possessed a “sex belt” she claimed to have purchased at Rose’s behest in a text message, according to reports.

Rose’s lawyers also cross-examined her on the spotty recollection itself. Via the New York Daily News:

“At any point did you say leave?” Rose’s lawyer Mark Baute asked the woman.

“I don’t recall sir,” she said.

“At any point did you say, ‘Get out”?” he asked.

“I don’t recall,” she said through tears, breaking down crying.

The woman also explained that after two years of remaining silent for “fear of losing her privacy and of possible retaliation against her family members” as well as not wanting “to be responsible for anything that could be a bad outcome” for Rose, she only brought the civil lawsuit two years after the alleged rape once several people in her life convinced her to come forward.

The accuser is expected to provide further testimony when the trial resumes. As jurors departed and the courtroom began filing out on Thursday, Rose could be seen smiling and laughing with his lawyers and co-defendants before exiting, reports said. The Daily News reported overhearing one of Rose’s defense attorneys, Michael Monico, telling the group of men, “If the belt doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

Told at a press conference Rose’s camp was congratulating one another at the end of the session, the woman’s attorney, Brandon Anand, told reporters, “If that’s what it is, I think it’s miscalculated.”

The judge excused Rose from the first day of court proceedings, when the 28-year-old played 25 minutes in Tuesday’s preseason opener for the Knicks. The trial resumed on Friday and will continue Tuesday, following New York’s next two preseason games on Saturday and Monday. The Knicks are not scheduled to play again until Oct. 15 — a Saturday — so Rose is expected to be in court next week.

In addition to a potential payout to his accuser, Rose faces financial forfeiture both on and off the court, pending NBA discipline and endorsement fallout should he lose the trial. The L.A. Police Department also confirmed recently there is an open criminal investigation into the allegations.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!