Derrick Rose was cleared by a jury in his rape trial on Wednesday. While there is no way of knowing what actually happened between the plaintiff, Rose and his two friends on the night of the alleged incident, the defendants were found not liable. That is different from being found not guilty.
Someone should tell that to Joakim Noah.
Noah, who played with Rose in Chicago before they both made their way to the New York Knicks, had some very strong words on Wednesday for the woman who accused Rose and his friends of gang raping her.
“It’s a blessing to have him come back — it’s great the truth came out,” Noah said, via Marc Berman of the New York Post. “We didn’t have a point guard for all of preseason. All because of a girl who was trying to make money off my friends. … [It] is just wack.”
Noah added that Rose is “a tough kid but it was definitely a distraction, not just him but the whole team because some girl went out of her way to make money off of him.”
You can understand why Noah feels the need to defend his friend and teammate, but he should have a better understanding of what Wednesday’s ruling means before sharing such a strong opinion publicly. Rose was not facing criminal charges. The jury was not tasked with determining whether it is beyond a reasonable doubt that Rose committed a crime. Rose was facing several civil claims that included sexual battery, and the jury found that it is less probable than not that he and his two friends are liable for those claims.
Without getting too deep into legal jargon, the bottom line is even the jurors — those same ones who posed for these controversial photos with Rose — said there simply wasn’t enough evidence and made it clear they were not accusing the plaintiff of lying. Noah, on the other hand, called her a gold-digger. Right or wrong, he’s better off keeping those thoughts to himself.
