Cops back Derrick Rose’s accuser
The LAPD is now backing a bid by Derrick Rose’s rape accuser to remain anonymous during her upcoming civil trial against the new Knicks guard — citing its ongoing criminal investigation into her accusations.
“This note is to clarify any misconception that the Los Angeles Police Department does not have a current and open criminal investigation pending that names the same suspects as the defendants in the current civil case,” Detective Nadine Hernandez of the Special Assault Unit wrote in a Sept. 22 letter to the woman’s attorney.
“Her identity will continue to remain confidential throughout the criminal investigation.”
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, claims Rose and two pals gangraped her while she was unconscious in 2013.
Speaking for the first time about the claims publicly at a Knicks press conference on Monday, Rose — obtained in an offseason trade with the Chicago Bulls — said, “It’s not true. I will be proven innocent.”
Just last week, an LA federal judge said the woman could not remain anonymous if she wanted to proceed with her civil case. The judge, Michael Fitzgerald, was concerned that allowing the alleged victim to use a pseudonym against a named defendant would look to jurors as if the court was siding with the woman.
Now her lawyer is asking the judge to allow his client to proceed as Jane Doe.
The trial is scheduled to open on Oct. 4, a date that coincides with the beginning of the Knicks’ preseason. On Monday, Rose acknowledged that he may have to miss training time to attend the trial.
“Of course, I don’t want to be in this position. It is what it is. I’m going to let my lawyer team handle it,” he said.
The woman’s lawyer, Brandon Anand, says in court papers that Hernandez is willing to testify regarding the ongoing investigation.
“The ability to offer anonymity to the victims of sex crimes is an invaluable investigative aid to investigators as well as a great comfort to victims of crimes of such a sensitive nature,” Hernandez wrote in the letter, which was submitted to the court Monday.
The renewed request by Doe’s lawyers for anonymity is a reversal from Anand’s earlier position that his client was prepared to proceed with the case using her real name.
But Anand says in the filing that “within hours” after Judge Fitzgerald’s Sept. 21 ruling on anonymity, a number of threats against her started popping up on social media.
One, by Twitter user “anthony.romano,” says, “If my n---a d rose misses games because of this bitch on god she’s getting Batista bombed through a table.”