By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The jury deciding the fate of two police officers on trial for rape finally heard a portion of the alleged victim's testimony after lawyers spent Tuesday morning arguing over what they should be allowed to hear.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent the morning debating the roughly 300 pages of transcribed testimony from a woman who said she was raped by NYPD officer Kenneth Moreno, 43, while his partner Franklin Mata, 29, stood guard.
The panel of seven men and five women asked for a read back on Monday afternoon of everything the 29-year-old woman said on the stand pertaining to what she remembered from the night in her apartment. She described the officers' four visits to her apartment during the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 7, 2008.
But after hours of legal nitpicking, the jurors finally heard the read-back when the parties returned from the lunch break at 2 p.m., listening to part of direct examination and part of cross examination, mostly about the woman's description of the assault and what she remembers of the hours before it.
The woman, a clothing company professional, was on the witness stand for about 2 1/2 days last month, and was questioned by both prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Jurors specifically wanted to hear her account of what happened inside her East 13th Street apartment and inside her bedroom, where she said she woke up to Moreno raping her from behind while she lay helpless and barely conscious.
Lawyers for the cops say they only returned to check on her and that nothing more than "snuggling" between Moreno and the woman occurred.
Jurors were told they would hear the read back on Tuesday morning, but instead they were kept in the jury room while attorneys argued in open court about what would actually be read to them.
One of the morning objections raised by the defense was whether or not the jurors should be allowed to hear a readback of the Assistant District Attorney asking the woman if she has any doubt she was raped.
"Come on, really?" said Chad Seigel, one of Moreno's attorneys, arguing the exchange reflected the woman's "mindset today" and not her recollection of events three years ago.
"It's not asking her what happened in that room, its asking her [what she thinks] now," Mata's attorney Edward Mandery also protested.
The judge decided it was relevant and was called upon to make several similar decisions about other parts of the woman's testimony throughout the morning when the sides could not compromise.
"It's a good point but I'm going to allow it in," Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Gregory Carro said.
The read back debate ended before the trial broke for lunch and jurors are expected to finally hear the read back when they return to court at 2 p.m.
They have been deliberating since Wednesday on charges of rape, official misconduct, burglary and falsifying records against both officers, who each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the top count.
Deliberations are expected to continue Wednesday. The jury will not convene Friday or until after Memorial Day if a verdict is not yet reached.
