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Accuser's Testimony May Force Accused NYPD Rape Cops To Stand

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was an emotional final day on the stand Monday for the woman accusing two NYPD officers of rape. The testimony was so raw, she broke down in court.

Officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata sat stone-faced in court yet again as the woman accusing them of raping her was on the witness stand for a third day, reports CBS 2's Pablo Guzman. And Assistant District Attorney Coleen Balbert re-established the woman's testimony with a dramatic emotional flourish:

Prosecutor: "As you sit here now, do you have any doubt that those were police officers behind you (as you went to your apartment)?"

Woman: "No."

Prosecutor: "...that as you lay face down on your bed, your tights were rolled off your legs?"

Woman: "No."

Prosecutor: "And do you have any doubt that you were raped by a police officer on your bed?"

Woman: "No."

Then sobs began to shake the woman's body. She asked Judge Gregory Carro for a moment, as she apologized and cried. The judge excused the jury.

As soon as the jury left, defense lawyer Joseph Tacopina, face red with anger, jumped to his feet and accused the DA of leading the witness. But the judge said every point the DA made was a door that the defense had opened in cross-examination.

Officer Mata's lawyer, Ed Mandery, actually created points of reasonable doubt by showing the woman statements she made earlier that she said she couldn't remember now. But after court the focus was on Tacopina.

"If we can turn it around," Tacopina said.

The woman was a powerful witness for herself. Was she so powerful, though, that one of the officers will have to take the stand? We should find out within two weeks.

Also Monday, the prosecution called the emergency room physicians who said the victim had an internal bruise consistent with a sexual attack.

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