NYPD Officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata cleared of rape charges, convicted of misconduct
BY Melissa Grace and Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:09 AM
Updated: Thursday, May 26th 2011, 2:13 PM
NYPD officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata leave Manhattan Supreme Court after a jury cleared them of rape charges.
Prosecutor Coleen Balbert called Moreno and Mata a disgrace in her closing arguments
Freshly acquitted of raping a helpless East Village woman, a Manhattan cop fired back at his accuser Thursday and branded her a liar.
"I thought she made the whole thing up," Officer Kenneth Moreno said moments after he and partner Franklin Mata were fount not guilty of rape charges that could have sent them to jail for up to 25 years.
Moreno said prosecutors should have dropped the case when they found no DNA to link him to the woman.
"It didn't end with the DNA not being found," he said bitterly. "They just continued their investigation. It was just a roller coaster."
That said, Moreno says he bears the accuser, now 29, no ill will.
PHOTOS: Reaction from the courtroom
"I hope everything works out for her," he said. "I wish her no harm."
Moreno also had a warning for other
NYPD
officers when dealing with drunk women.
"Be very, very, very careful," he said. "Dot your i's and cross your t's."
A relieved Mata said he was "glad this was finally over."
"I want to finally get on with my life," he said. "I've been innocent from day one."
Moreno's lawyer,
Joseph Tacopina
, who took some heat for calling his client a "simpleton" in closing arguments, called the verdict "justice."
The jury didn't buy the accuser's story and placed little faith in what prosecutors thought was their best evidence - a secret recording in which Moreno seemingly admits to the rape, he said.
"I think they accepted it for what it was," Tacopina said. "He said on that tape 24 times that he did not have sex with that woman."
Manhattan District Attorney
Cyrus Vance
said that while he respects the jury's verdict, "the defendants' actions that night not only violated the law, they violated the victim's rights, and the public's trust."
The verdict came after seven days of deliberations - and capped a six-week trial in which prosecutor
Coleen Balbert
said Moreno sexually assaulted the woman while Mata stood watch.
Both officers looked stunned when the verdict was announced at 10:45 a.m. and their families began weeping tears of joy.
Moreno and Mata also skated on three second-degree burglary counts for taking the woman's keys and returning to her apartment three times.
Both cops were found guilty of official misconduct - misdemeanor charges that could send them to jail for up to two years when they are sentenced June 28 - for going back to her apartment without telling their superiors.
Moreno, 43, and Mata, 29, remain suspended pending a police department review that will take place soon.
"There were very serious charges raised during this trial, and now that it's over they can be addressed by the Police Department's strict review,"
Mayor Bloomberg
said.
During the trial, Balbert said Moreno and Mata "disgraced their profession" by taking advantage of a woman who was drunk and vomiting when they encountered her.
"These two were supposed to be
New York City
's Finest, but on Dec. 7, 2008, they were New York City's worst," she fumed.
Balbert ridiculed Moreno's claims that the almost completely naked woman tried to seduce him - and that he just spooned with her while dressed in his uniform. She was especially galled by Moreno's cringe-worthy insistence that he doesn't "kiss and tell."
Tacopina and Mata's lawyer,
Edward Mandery
called the accuser a gold digger who is suing the city for $57 million.
They said the fashion executive was too bombed to remember what really happened - and that there is no DNA backing her claim that she "woke up to being penetrated from behind."
With Jose Martinez
mgrace@nydailynews.com
VIDEO
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_...ta_cleared_of_rape_charges.html#ixzz1NU51m100
BY Melissa Grace and Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:09 AM
Updated: Thursday, May 26th 2011, 2:13 PM
NYPD officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata leave Manhattan Supreme Court after a jury cleared them of rape charges.
Prosecutor Coleen Balbert called Moreno and Mata a disgrace in her closing arguments
Freshly acquitted of raping a helpless East Village woman, a Manhattan cop fired back at his accuser Thursday and branded her a liar.
"I thought she made the whole thing up," Officer Kenneth Moreno said moments after he and partner Franklin Mata were fount not guilty of rape charges that could have sent them to jail for up to 25 years.
Moreno said prosecutors should have dropped the case when they found no DNA to link him to the woman.
"It didn't end with the DNA not being found," he said bitterly. "They just continued their investigation. It was just a roller coaster."
That said, Moreno says he bears the accuser, now 29, no ill will.
PHOTOS: Reaction from the courtroom
"I hope everything works out for her," he said. "I wish her no harm."
Moreno also had a warning for other
NYPD
officers when dealing with drunk women.
"Be very, very, very careful," he said. "Dot your i's and cross your t's."
A relieved Mata said he was "glad this was finally over."
"I want to finally get on with my life," he said. "I've been innocent from day one."
Moreno's lawyer,
Joseph Tacopina
, who took some heat for calling his client a "simpleton" in closing arguments, called the verdict "justice."
The jury didn't buy the accuser's story and placed little faith in what prosecutors thought was their best evidence - a secret recording in which Moreno seemingly admits to the rape, he said.
"I think they accepted it for what it was," Tacopina said. "He said on that tape 24 times that he did not have sex with that woman."
Manhattan District Attorney
Cyrus Vance
said that while he respects the jury's verdict, "the defendants' actions that night not only violated the law, they violated the victim's rights, and the public's trust."
The verdict came after seven days of deliberations - and capped a six-week trial in which prosecutor
Coleen Balbert
said Moreno sexually assaulted the woman while Mata stood watch.
Both officers looked stunned when the verdict was announced at 10:45 a.m. and their families began weeping tears of joy.
Moreno and Mata also skated on three second-degree burglary counts for taking the woman's keys and returning to her apartment three times.
Both cops were found guilty of official misconduct - misdemeanor charges that could send them to jail for up to two years when they are sentenced June 28 - for going back to her apartment without telling their superiors.
Moreno, 43, and Mata, 29, remain suspended pending a police department review that will take place soon.
"There were very serious charges raised during this trial, and now that it's over they can be addressed by the Police Department's strict review,"
Mayor Bloomberg
said.
During the trial, Balbert said Moreno and Mata "disgraced their profession" by taking advantage of a woman who was drunk and vomiting when they encountered her.
"These two were supposed to be
New York City
's Finest, but on Dec. 7, 2008, they were New York City's worst," she fumed.
Balbert ridiculed Moreno's claims that the almost completely naked woman tried to seduce him - and that he just spooned with her while dressed in his uniform. She was especially galled by Moreno's cringe-worthy insistence that he doesn't "kiss and tell."
Tacopina and Mata's lawyer,
Edward Mandery
called the accuser a gold digger who is suing the city for $57 million.
They said the fashion executive was too bombed to remember what really happened - and that there is no DNA backing her claim that she "woke up to being penetrated from behind."
With Jose Martinez
mgrace@nydailynews.com
VIDEO
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_...ta_cleared_of_rape_charges.html#ixzz1NU51m100
Nigga we thought you was the police