Jury clears Rose, 2 friends in sex assault lawsuit

LOS ANGELES - Jurors have cleared NBA star Derrick Rose and two friends in a lawsuit that accused them of gang raping his ex-girlfriend when she was incapacitated from drugs or alcohol.

The jury reached the verdict Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court after hearing dramatically different accounts of the August 2013 sexual encounter.

Neither side denied the three men had sex with the woman, but the issue was whether she consented or was too intoxicated to do so.

Defense lawyers tarred the woman as a liar who tried to sway jurors through her tears to get at Rose's fortune. They claimed she was angry he had dumped her and she set him up and brought the lawsuit in hopes of a big payoff.

The woman's lawyer called the men ''sexual deviants'' and says they conspired to gang rape her after she was drunk and incapable of consenting to sex.

Rose says he's thankful that the jury rejected a rape lawsuit against him and two friends.

Rose says in a statement to The Associated Press that it was important to prove he did not do what he was accused of, even though he had to share private details of his personal life.