Jury deliberates NYPD cops' rape charges
NYPD officer Kenneth Moreno leaves Manhattan Criminal Court. (April 15, 2011) Credit: Craig Ruttle
A jury of seven men and five women began deliberating Wednesday in the trial of two NYPD officers charged with raping a drunken woman.
The jury began its work just after 11:30 a.m. after hearing instructions from Judge Steven Carra in state Supreme court in Manhattan on the charges against Officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata.
The two are accused of having sex with a Gap designer, 27, during three post-midnight visits to her apartment after escorting her in from a taxi on Dec. 7, 2008.
Moreno is accused of having sex with the intoxicated, unconscious woman, while Mata has been described by prosecutors as a lookout. Both cops are also charged with three counts of burglary, two counts of falsifying records to hide their actions, and four counts of official misconduct.
Separately, Moreno is charged with an additional count of falsifying an entry in his memo book that night. Mata is charged with falsifying business records, tampering with evidence and official misconduct -- all relating to the disappearance of his memo book -- and with criminal facilitation.
