By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The defense lawyer for a veteran police officer accused of raping a drunk woman grilled the alleged victim's memory of that night as well as of details she later reported to friends and authorities.
The 29-year-old woman took the witness stand Friday for the second day of testimony about her alleged rape by 9th Precinct police officer Kenneth Moreno and his partner Franklin Mata.
The woman, who has admitted to investigators and jurors that she can't recall everything that took place inside her apartment on Dec. 7, 2008 as a result of alcohol-induced blackouts, staunchly defended the memories she did have of the evening.
"I remember two police officers helping me in the hallway and I remember being raped by them," the woman said on the stand Friday, clearly reiterating her earlier testimony.
The woman said she remembered how she had to drag herself up the stairs by the hand-rail, and how she was lifted up off her bathroom floor by a man in her apartment after vomiting.
She testified Thursday that she remembered "waking up" to being raped by one of the officers while she was so conked out her body was "dead weight," the woman testified.
Moreno's attorney, Joe Tacopina, grilled the woman about many details of the night in question that she could not remember after drinking half a bottle of champagne, a shot of Jagermeister, a Red Bull vodka and other cocktails at a club in Brooklyn.
He read to the woman from a series of emails she exchanged with a friend about the night of the alleged attack, in which she asked about her own behavior including how much she drank, how she got to a cab and who told the driver where she lived.
The woman remained composed throughout most of the morning session, breaking into tears only briefly when she described a separate email where she pretended to be OK despite what happened to her, because she did not want her friend — who was in Europe at the time — to be upset.
"The thing that I want to be really clear about with that particular line is that when something like this happens to you, the shock is so surreal when you are trying to figure out what you need to do afterwards," she said Friday as she held back tears.
"You tell people you're OK even though you're not because you're trying to get through it," she added.
Tacopina wrapped up his cross-examination by grilling her about a $57 million lawsuit pending against the city and the officers. He has previously said she made up the story about getting raped in order to get a huge payout, but did not go that far in his line of questioning Friday.
Tacopina and Mata's attorney, Edward Mandery, have argued she does not remember what happened. They have also hinted that she could have consented to possible advances by Moreno without having a memory of it, but they have not admitted that any contact occurred.
The woman's testimony continued through Friday and will resume on Monday with Mandery's cross-examination.
