NYPD Officers Cleared of Rape Charges

Officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata of the NYPD were formerly accused of felony charges of rape, burglary and falsifying business records. They were cleared of these charges in court this morning. However, the NYPD says they will fire the police officers anyway. "The guilty verdict warrants immediate termination from department. We will pursue that today," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says. The officers were convicted of only three misdemeanors of official misconduct. Sentencing is set for June 28, and they could each face a year or less in jail.


This was a hard case for the Jury to decide on. There was a lack of forensic evidence of rape, it was basically a he-said she-said case.  The woman claims she woke up in her bed, in a drunken, semi-conscious state, to see the officer standing over her while she was stripped of her clothes, lying down. Prosecutors claim Moreno, 43, committed the rape while Mata, 29, was the lookout.


There were a few pieces of solid evidence, including a secretly recorded tape where you hear Moreno say that he used a condom, and that it was just him and not his partner. There is also surveillance video showing the officers letting themselves into her house with a key 3 times. The same video also showed the woman walking around by herself, and even making a gesture to one of the officers. After finding her BAC, and the amount of time between her drinking and her accusation, Lawyers argue that the woman would have metabolized enough of the alcohol to not have been physically helpless if a rape had occurred.  She was also able to climb 5 flights of stairs on her own.


Because of this evidence, the misdemeanors the officers were charged of were from knowingly refraining from duty to return to the woman's house 3 times. The officers will lose their jobs because of this.


Do you think this is the correct decision made by the jury? Do you think the officers should lose their jobs over this misdemeanor? Do you think that if the offenders were not police officers, their sentencing would have been different? Do you think the American Justice System is flawed?