By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — Jurors in the trial of two police officers charged with raping a drunk woman have asked for instructions on how much they should trust witness testimony in their deliberations.
With an absence of DNA evidence as proof that sex took place between police officer Kenneth Moreno and the 29-year-old alleged victim, jurors have been left to decide what happened based on their dueling accounts of the night in question.
The woman testified that she woke up to Moreno raping her. Moreno said on the witness stand that nothing more than "snuggling" took place on Dec. 7, 2008, when he visited her apartment four times to "counsel" her about drinking, he said.
"In life, you decide who's telling the truth, who's accurate," Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gregory Carro told the jury panel, made up of seven men and five women, on Wednesday.
Carro encouraged the jurors to decide for themselves whose story is "plausible" and whose testimony might be "implausible."
On Tuesday the jurors asked for a read back of the woman's testimony while being questioned by both prosecutors and defense attorneys about what took place in her apartment and her bedroom.
They also asked to see her emergency room medical report, drafted when she was examined the day the assault allegedly occurred. Earlier during their deliberations, they had asked for Moreno's memo books from the night in question, and they also asked to see the NYPD's patrol guidelines about how to treat people who need medical attention.
The judge told jurors Wednesday that they can discredit part or all of any testimony they do not believe to be credible.
They returned to deliberations after hearing his instructions.
Both officers are charged with rape, official misconduct burglary and falsifying records. They face up to 25 years in prison.
