New Charges Against 2 Officers in Village Rape Case

Updated 3:25 p.m. | The New York police officers accused in the rape of a drunken woman in the East Village sneaked out of their precinct station house to return to her apartment one more time than had been previously disclosed, prosecutors alleged on Monday.

The disclosure came as the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed a new indictment that added several more charges against Officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin L. Mata, who were accused in the rape of the woman in December 2008. Prosecutors have said that Officer Mata acted as a lookout while Officer Moreno raped the woman. They have pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution conceded two weeks ago that it needed to bring the case back to the grand jury because it had failed to include evidence — which turned out to be the officers’ alleged fourth trip to the woman’s apartment — during its original presentation in 2009. That final visit to the woman’s apartment, early on the morning of Dec. 7, 2008, was captured on video, as were the other visits.

For the final visit, the officers “snuck out of the precinct while they were on meal” to return to the victim’s apartment, Coleen Balbert, an assistant district attorney, said in court. Ms. Balbert added that the evidence “in no way makes the people’s case weaker, but rather stronger.”

Indeed, prosecutors added 11 charges against the officers, including official misconduct and falsifying business records, for a total of 26.

But the officers’ lawyers said they believed the new evidence helped their clients.

Without giving specifics about his defense strategy, one of the lawyers, Joseph Tacopina, hinted at why he believed the evidence was favorable.

Until now, the prosecution’s theory was that the rape occurred during one of the first three visits, Mr. Tacopina said. That theory has been memorialized in grand jury testimony, Mr. Tacopina said. So now, if the prosecution argues that the rape occurred during the fourth visit, Mr. Tacopina said it could be refuted by that prior testimony. But if they claim that the rape took place before the final visit, “that would have meant that a guy who raped a woman would have come back an hour later just to check on her,”Mr. Tacopina said, adding that he found that scenario to be illogical.

The defense has also indicated that it may argue that Officer Moreno had been counseling the woman about personal problems she had talked to him about.

In court documents, the prosecution does not specify when the rape occurred, and during which of the officers’ four visits. Both men have been charged with rape, even though Officer Moreno is the only one accused of committing the act.

The officers were called to help the woman into her apartment because she was so drunk that she could not make it out of a taxi, prosecutors said.

One of the new official misconduct counts is based on an allegation that the officers never called an ambulance for the victim. A new count of falsifying business records is based on the allegation that the officers left the station house to return to her apartment while they were supposed to be on a meal break.

The trial was supposed to proceed to jury selection on Monday, but the defense asked for an extra week to draft new motions. The judge, Gregory Carro, pushed jury selection to next Monday.