MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A former East Village police officer acquitted of rape but convicted of official misconduct will be allowed to stay out of jail during his appeal, an appellate judge ruled Monday.
First Department Appellate Division Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam ruled that Franklin Mata, 29, can remain free on $35,000, the ex-cop's attorney Edward Mandery said.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gregory Carro, who presided over the Mata's high profile trial, had allowed him to remain free until Sept. 12. But the appellate court ruling was needed in order for him to stay out during the appeal, which could last years.
Mata had been sentenced to 60 days in jail plus three years probation on Aug. 10. If he loses his appeal, he'll likely do 40 days at Rikers Island on good behavior.
His former partner, Kenneth Moreno, who was also acquitted of rape, burglary, and falsifying records but convicted of official misconduct, was sentenced to a year in jail but was also granted release pending his appeal on Aug. 8.
Prosecutors argued Moreno, 43, took advantage of a drunk 27-year-old woman who needed help getting out of a cab while Mata stood guard in her apartment on Dec. 7, 2008.
After a nearly two-month trial, a jury found the officers not guilty of everything but official misconduct for entering the woman's apartment three times throughout their overnight shift without authorization from their supervisors.
Lawyers for Moreno and Mata, who were fired by the NYPD on May 26, have argued the verdict should be overturned because Judge Carro did not properly instruct jurors on the official misconduct law.
They will also argue the officers should not have been criminally charged with reentering the woman's apartment without permission from their precinct because it was nothing more than a department violation.
