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Woman Accusing Cops Of Rape: "I Knew I Was Raped"
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 16, 2011
Modified Sep 9, 2011
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WCBS 2
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 16, 2011
Modified Sep 9, 2011
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The woman who accuses a NYC police officer of raping her—and his partner of acting as a lookout—was cross-examined yesterday and stood her ground. When alleged rapist Kenneth Moreno's lawyer asked about a statement where she said she believed she was raped, the 29-year-old said, "I never said I believe I was raped. I knew I was raped. I was in shock. I couldn't believe it was the cops."
The defense has been trying to discredit the accuser's creditability and questioned her memory of the evening, given her admitted black outs. However, the NY Times reports, "The woman remained calm and confident, flexed her intellect and even went on the attack in a few instances."
According to the Daily News, she said, "I remember, obviously, that I was in a cab. I remember that two police officers helped me in the hallway. And I remember that I was raped by them." She admitted she might not remember everything that night, but insisted, "I think the memory I've held onto is the penetration," explaining, "I woke up to being penetrated from behind. I woke up because the action of his penetration was so hard that my head was moving toward the window [at the head of her bed] like it was going to go through it."
The woman had been celebrating a job promotion on a December 2008 night and became so intoxicated that her friends put her in a cab from Brooklyn back to her East Village apartment. After she threw up twice during the cab ride, the driver called 911, and officers Moreno and Franklin Mata appeared, helping her into her building. At some point, during one of the four visits the pair made to the apartment (surveillance video shows the cops repeatedly going to the building), prosecutors allege that Moreno raped the woman.
Defense lawyer Joseph Tacopino brought up an email that she sent to her roommate, who was in London:
[In the email], the woman testified that she wrote that she was “O.K.” and that the episode was not “violent or aggressive.”
She also testified that she had told a nurse at the hospital she went to that she was not physically hurt. But, she explained, she thought the nurse meant from an act like being punched. And she said she had tried to play down the episode to her roommate so as not to worry her.
“When something like this happens to you, the shock is so surreal,” she said, her lips quivering in her most visibly emotional moment of the day.
“When you are just trying to figure out what you need to do afterwards,” she added, “you tell people you’re O.K., even though you’re not, because you’re trying to get through it.”
Tacopino has said that the only physical contact Moreno had with the accuser is a kiss on the shoulder. While the accuser confronted Moreno while wearing a hidden voice recorder (placed on her by the Manhattan DA's office) and Moreno eventually admitted to using a condom (and gave weird reasons why he was so "helpful" that night), Tacopino says his client only said that so she wouldn't make a scene.
Tacopino said to WCBS 2 outside of the court, "What I’m hoping is that the jury doesn’t become overwhelmed with emotion, and I don’t think they will. I think if they decide this case on the facts given by the court, we’ll be fine. It’s just an emotional situation."
Update (9/9/11): Gothamist has published a long-form feature about the Rape Cop case, written by one of the jurors. It takes you behind the scenes during their deliberations, and explains how they came to their controversial verdict. Buy it today as a PDF or on Kindle.
Tagged
east village
franklin mata
kenneth moreno
rape cop
rape cop trial
rape cops
trial
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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