Celebrities

Is It Okay For The Judge And Jury To Be Starstruck At Trial?

This is a bad look for the legal system.

By Kathryn Rubino on October 21, 2016 11:43 am
(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

That’s the question on everyone’s mind after some questionable behavior following the trial of New York Knicks player Derrick Rose.

For those not following along with the sordid trial, Rose, along with two friends, Randall Hampton and Ryan Allen, were accused by a Jane Doe in a $21.5 million civil case of rape. The trio maintained the group sex was consensual, and a jury agreed, clearing the three defendants of liability.

But it’s what happened next that has legal commentators uneasy. First, U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California, Michael W. Fitzgerald, gave Rose a cozy farewell: “Best wishes. Except when the Knicks play the Lakers.”

Perhaps there is nothing technically wrong about the words, but calling attention to Rose’s high profile career, and leaving the courtroom with the perception that you are at least a part-time fan doesn’t seem the most prudent. Especially when so many of the allegations in the case dealt with Rose’s entitlement, access, and practices as an NBA player.

Then this happened. Rose, with his lawyer, took pictures with jurors. LA Times reporter Joel Rubin describes the scene as giddy.

Without commenting on the quality of the allegations in the trial, it is still a bad look for the legal system.

This Photo of Derrick Rose Taking Pictures With ‘Giddy Jurors’ From His Rape Trial Is Pretty Awful [Complex]