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Medical Exam Ordered|in Derrick Rose Rape Case

LOS ANGELES (CN) — An attorney for NBA star Derrick Rose persuaded a judge Thursday to order an independent psychological examination of a woman who claims that Rose and two other men gang-raped at her Los Angeles apartment.

U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald allowed the civil case to go to trial after ruling on July 27 that there was a "genuine dispute" whether Rose's former girlfriend, Jane Doe, consented to have sex with the men.

She sued the Knicks point guard in County Superior Court, then removed it Federal Court, seeking punitive damages for sexual battery and other charges against Rose, his friend Randall Hampton and assistant Ryan Allen.

Doe claims that in August 2013 Rose drugged her drink at his rented Beverly Hills home and that the three men later let themselves into her apartment and raped her.

Rose claims the sex was consensual and that the woman had sent him text messages telling him to come to her apartment.

But Judge Fitzgerald found in July that the texts are open to interpretation.

At a Thursday afternoon hearing, Rose's attorney Mark Baute asked Fitzgerald to exclude the testimony of a rebuttal expert to Rose's toxicologist Dr. Ernest Lykissa, who said there is no evidence that Doe had Rohypnol, a so-called "date rape drug," in her system.

Baute's motion states that Doe's expert Okorie Okorocha has never been employed as a scientist or worked in a laboratory and is unqualified to testify.

He called Okorocha's report "contradictory and confusing." Okorocha found no evidence that Doe had ingested anything other than alcohol but also said he could not rule out other drugs, Baute wrote in the motion.

He said Fitzgerald should exclude the expert because his report went "beyond the proper scope of rebuttal" to include comments "outside the analysis of the drug Rohypnol." If the court chose not to exclude Okorocha's testimony he should testify only about Rohypnol, Baute said.

Doe's attorney Brandon Anand told Fitzgerald in court Thursday that it "makes no sense" to limit expert testimony to a single drug. He said that Doe did not identify the drug in her initial filing and they still do not know for certain which drug, if any, Rose used.

Baute guessed that Doe would abandon the theory at trial because, he said, there is evidence that she had drunk vodka, wine and Tequila before and during her visit to Rose's residence. She then sent a series of texts in the early hours after she left, suggesting that she had not been drugged, Baute said in the courtroom.

Baute noted that if one combines alcohol with Rohypnol, "You're out, and you're out for a good long while."

Anand, however, said his client would not abandon the allegation that she had been drugged. Fitzgerald granted the motion in part.

In a second motion, Baute asked Fitzgerald to order an independent medical examination of Doe, who says she has suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder since the alleged sexual assault.

Fitzgerald granted Rose's motion to compel the independent medical examination.

Rose was the league's most valuable player in the 2010-2011 season with the Chicago Bulls, but the 27-year-old's career has been plagued by injuries, and the Bulls traded him to the Knicks in June.

The trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 4.

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