'Rape Cops' jurors 'took beating' after acquitting NYPD officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata

9-9-2011 New York:

The "Rape Cops" jury returned home to anger and disbelief from friends and co-workers after their vote for acquittal, according to a juror's insider account of the case.

"I got ripped," a fellow juror told Patrick Kirkland, who wrote a lengthy first-person piece on the deliberations for Gothamist.com.

"I took a beating (at work) for weeks: 'You let rapists go; you let cops do whatever they want.'"

A second juror said she'd had enough of the relentless criticism: "I've stopped apologizing. We did our jobs."

Kirkland writes that the panel almost dodged all the second-guessing. The jury only avoided a hung jury when a pro-conviction juror changed her vote after six uneasy days.

Juror No. 11 - while insisting she believed the drunken victim was raped - joined the not guilty majority after acknowledging the evidence didn't support a conviction, according to Kirkland.

"I know I've been putting up a fight," she said inside the tense Manhattan jury room. "I believe they raped her. But we have to do what the law says. They didn't prove the case.

"I'm going to change my vote to not guilty."

Two other holdouts quickly followed suit - and officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata were acquitted May 26 of sexually assaulting the East Village woman, Kirkland wrote in his blow-by-blow account.

The jurors deliberated for seven days after hearing seven weeks of testimony - but they were close to an acquittal on the rape charge on day one of their talks.

An initial vote was 9-3 in favor of a not guilty verdict in the December 2009 incident, with the jury forewoman laying out the majority position.

"They didn't prove it," she told the other jurors. "Listen, I've been around a long time. I listened to every word they said, and they didn't prove it to me."

But within three hours, battling jurors with eyes bulging were slamming pens and shouting as the deliberations turned contentious, Kirkland wrote.

The jury decided to resolve all the other charges in the 26-count case - finding the two guilty of official misconduct - before returning to the rape charge, according to the advertising writer from the Upper West Side.

When they returned to debate the top count of the indictment, the angry schism resurfaced.

"I would like to suggest that maybe we send a note to the judge, telling him that we are not making any headway," said Juror No. 10.

The jury instead returned to its work and found a consensus one day later. ..Source.. by Larry Mcshane