Jalen Rosein jail for drunk driving gets 20 days

Jalen Rosein jail for drunk driving gets 20 days


Wednesday to 20 days in jail for a March drunken-driving crash near Detroit, despite a recommendation that the ESPN analyst and former NBA player not serve jail time and the public support of several prominent figures, including Detroit's mayor.


"I'm humbled, I'm embarrassed, and I'm very apologetic. I can assure everyone that nothing like this will ever happen again," he said.

"This was nothing less than an elected judge legislating from the bench," said Keith Davidson. "This is a man who has given millions of dollars to charity, started schools around the world and worked endlessly for the community, yet her average sentence is 17 days, and she sentenced Mr. Rose to 20 days.


Several prominent figures, including Bing, wrote letters to the court asking for leniency. Rose, who is from Detroit, is opening a school in the city that will bear his own name.


Judge Kimberly Small, known for her tough stance on drunken driving, ordered the former NBA player andUniversity of Michigan basketball star to serve 93 days in jail, but she suspended all but 20 of those days.

Rose, in a brief statement, said he has been "humbled and humiliated by this process."

"I have no one to blame but myself for endangering the community," he told Small.

Rose, 38, was arrested March 11 in West Bloomfield after crashing his Cadillac Escalade on Walnut Lake Road, west of Middlebelt. No one was injured in the single-vehicle crash.

Rose registered a 0.08% on a roadside Breathalyzer, which is the legal limit to be considered drunken driving. Later, a blood test showed a level of 0.12%.

Rose pleaded guilty to a single count of operating a vehicle while under the influence, a 93-day misdemeanor.

The probation department, in its report, did not recommend jail time, Burdick said. Small responded: "The people have hired me, not my probation department."

As the Free Press reported Monday, Small has a record of sending first-time drunken drivers to jail, often for days or weeks. Her average sentences far exceed those of her peers, who often order first-time offenders to serve probation and perform community service.

Small said people hire attorneys in an attempt to stay out of jail, but it's her job to send a message.

"There lies the answer to drunk driving," Small said. "Send a message out there that there will be serious consequences."

Rose is a professional basketball analyst for cable sports giant ESPN.