The woman accusing Derrick Rose of gang rape, known as Jane Doe, has been viewed skeptically by the media and the public since the day she filed her civil suit. For months, her allegations were mostly ignored.
One reason for this was a series of texts released by Doe’s “friend” and former roommate, Keyana LaVergne, to a website called BallerAlert.com in October 2015. They appeared to show Doe apologizing for suing Rose and admitting that she was only doing it because she was desperate for money.
Here is the key exchange.
Indeed, these texts seem pretty damning. They garnered significant media attention, including this article in the Chicago Tribune.
In Derrick Rose assault case, accuser’s ex-roommate calls abuse claims a ‘sham’The civil lawsuit against Bulls guard Derrick Rose continues to wind its way through federal court in Los Angeles, with…www.chicagotribune.comBut new court filings submitted by Doe’s lawyers on Thursday reveal that these texts have nothing to do with her suit against Rose.
Rather, Doe was discussing with LaVergne a totally separate lawsuit against their landlord regarding roaches. LaVergne admitted as much during a deposition.
Presenting these texts as Doe discussing her rationale for suing Derrick Rose, is, in short, a lie.
One text message from Doe leaked by LaVergne does mention Rose but in a much more ambiguous context. Doe says that, since she filed suit, she’ll have to return his TV and promises to replace it.
All of the texts were subsequently deleted from BallerAlert.com but are still available online. Doe’s lawyers suggested during the deposition that the texts were deleted after the website was provided the full context for all of them.
LaVergne also admits she was in contact with Derrick Rose’s lawyer, Mark Baute, shortly before she leaked the deceptive text messages.
She was also represented by Rose’s attorneys the day of the deposition, and things got a bit heated when Rose’s attorneys repeatedly refused to let LaVergne answer questions due to attorney-client privilege.
LaVergne did, however, eventually explicitly admit these texts were about the roach lawsuit and not Derrick Rose.
A major part of Rose’s legal strategy was to publicly depict Doe as not a victim but someone simply seeking to extort money. These texts were the primary evidence that were used to support that contention. Now we know that, essentially, they were a hoax.
This follows a pattern of narratives about Doe advanced by the Rose legal team falling apart under scrutiny. His lawyers have repeatedly sought to paint Doe as slutty and sexually adventurous. But Rose revealed in his deposition that they broke up in part because she rejected his multiple requests for group sex.
That we are learning about this now is not a coincidence. Yesterday, the judge imposed a gag order on the lawyers in the case, prohibiting them from speaking to the media.
But there are still ongoing issues in dispute even as the October 4 trial date approaches. One of the technical issues is whether Doe’s attorney can depose LaVergne again.
Doe’s attorneys say this is justified because Rose’s lawyers claim that LaVergne is unavailable to testify at trial and want to read sections of her deposition testimony into the court record. (Rose’s lawyers also claim they represented her only for the day of the first deposition and now don’t know where she lives or how to contact her.)
In arguing that they should be allowed to depose LaVergne again, Doe’s attorney’s released a partial transcript of her first deposition. This strengthens their legal case about this specific issue but also revealed the truth about the text messages.
This could be useful to Doe if, as many expect, the parties seek to settle before next Tuesday.