The former cop who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a teacher was just sentenced to 75 years to life in prison. According to the Post, this means that Michael Pena "must serve at least 75 years before even seeing a parole board." more ›

The trial of former police officer Michael Pena—who had been accused of raping a 25-year-old school teacher at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan last August—was a giant mess, to say the least. Chief among the problems was the fact that one of the three holdout jurors who refused to convict Pena of rape (but did convict him of predatory sexual assault) had ties to several prominent law-enforcement figures, but purposefully withheld that information. Finally, lawyer Lloyd Constantine admitted to the News that maybe, just maybe, he made a mistake in not admitting those ties initially: “I would have included a much longer list of names and somewhere in there would have been Cy Vance,” he said in hindsight. more ›

After a jury's indecision led to a mistrial on rape charges, the father of the victim is speaking out. The upset parent, who lives out of state, told the Post, "When things like this happen, it just makes you think twice" about moving to NYC. more ›

Another day, another person who is outraged and offended that former police officer Michael Pena, who had been accused of raping a 25-year-old school teacher at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan last August—was not convicted of rape charges. Key witness Ann Bishop, a special education teacher who testified that she witnessed Pena having sex with the victim from her bedroom window, said she couldn't believe jurors dismiss the victims own testimony as well as hers: “I know what I saw,” she told the Daily News. “I am disturbed by the fact that they didn’t come back with a guilty verdict.” more ›

More details to make your blood boil have emerged from the trial of former police officer Michael Pena, who was found guilty of three counts of predatory sexual assault for attacking a 25-year-old school teacher at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan last August. A juror interviewed after the judge declared a mistrial on the rape charges told the News the three holdouts didn’t take the testimony of witness Gregory Matherly seriously, dismissing him as the “skateboard witness.” “I know Greg,” said neighbor Eva Okada. “He’s not a liar. Just because he rides a skateboard doesn’t make him a liar.” more ›

We're still trying to understand exactly what happened in Manhattan Criminal Court over the past two weeks that led to former police office Michael Pena—who had been on trial for the alleged rape of a 25-year-old school teacher at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan last August—not getting convicted of rape, despite being convicted of three counts of predatory sexual assault. More information has leaked out about the holdout jurors: the Daily News reports that at least one juror didn't believe the victim because she could not recall the color of a car parked by the courtyard where she was attacked: “If she doesn’t remember these details, how does she know she was penetrated,” one juror said, according to their sources. more ›

For the better part of the last month, former police officer Michael Pena had been on trial for the alleged rape of a 25-year-old school teacher at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan last August. Jurors heard eyewitness accounts, doctors testimony, and the victim's first-hand account of being attacked—and ultimately, Pena was found guilty of three counts of predatory sexual assault. But the judge declared a mistrial on the rape charges because of a deadlocked jury. Today, everyone is trying to make sense of what happened—but one juror has vowed to not lose any sleep over the case: “This was not fun,” juror Lloyd Constantine told reporters. “This was hard work. It was difficult, painful work...There’s no law that says a jury has to reach a verdict.” more ›

A jury of eight men and four women have convicted 28-year-old Michael Pena of three counts of predatory sexual assault, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. However, the jury remains deadlocked on the rape charge, and according to the AP, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Richard Carruthers instructed them to keep deliberating on other unresolved charges, including rape. The Post reports that the 25-year-old victim "burst into audible, gasping sobs" when the jury foreman announced that their deliberations kept resulting in deadlock. more ›

The fiancée of Michael Pena—the 28-year-old police officer who is accused of raping a schoolteacher at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan last August—told a jury that she still loved him, and planned to marry him, during her testimony yesterday. Alma Rodriguez, 24, answered defense attorney Ephraim Savitt's questions through a translator—the Dominican Republic citizen said she understood the charges against Pena, and still loved him. She also claimed that she and Pena had sex hours before the alleged rape took place. more ›

The prosecution rested their case this week against Michael Pena, a 27-year-old police officer who is accused of raping a schoolteacher at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan last August. This came after testimony from the victim, a bartender who confirmed Pena was drinking heavily that evening, and a witness who saw Pena attacking the 25-year-old teacher. The witness described what she saw as "joyless" sex, and added, "It wasn't like 'let's sneak a quickie.'" Defense attorney Ephraim Savitt responded: "I'm sure it wasn't a quickie. I'm sure it was joyless, but she also didn't see exactly what happened." more ›

The trial for Michael Pena, a 27-year-old police officer who is accused of raping a schoolteacher at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan last August, began yesterday. While Pena had previously implied that it was a consensual encounter—and that he was just "cheating" on his girlfriend—his lawyer took a different strategy in his opening statements: he admitted his client deserved to go to jail. “He did in fact assault her,” defense attorney Ephraim Savitt told jurors. “All those things the People will be able to prove, because they happened...This was a terrible crime, an unforgivable crime, but it does not rise to the level of the [rape] charges." more ›

In late August, a 27-year-old police officer was accused of raping a woman at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan. Officer Michael Pena pleaded not guilty to charges that he forced the 25-year-old schoolteacher into a courtyard behind an Inwood building at gunpoint early that morning and raped her—he even implied it was consensual, and that he was just "cheating" on his girlfriend. Today, the arresting officer testified about Pena's state that morning: "I looked at his shield and I threw it to the ground in disgust," said Officer Timothy Kraft, according to DNAInfo. more ›

In late August, a 27-year-old police officer was accused of raping a woman at gunpoint while off-duty in Manhattan. Today, officer Michael Pena pleaded not guilty to charges that he forced the 25-year-old teacher into a courtyard behind an Inwood building at gunpoint early that morning and raped her. It was also revealed today that Pena, who admitted he had been drinking that morning, implied after his arrest that the encounter was consensual. more ›

Yesterday, the 27-year-old police officer accused of raping a woman at gunpoint in Inwood last Friday was indicted by a grand jury in Manhattan. But today, it was revealed that police are investigating whether officer Michael Pena was involved in two other sexual assaults in the three years he's been on the force. And, Pena was once hit with a brutality suit for assaulting and battering a perp, as well as performing a body-cavity search that went "beyond all possible bounds of decency." more ›

The 27-year-old police officer accused of raping a woman at gunpoint in Inwood early last Friday is worried that the Manhattan DA is going to try and "make an example" out of him over a misunderstanding. Three-year-veteran Michael Pena, currently at Rikers, told the Daily News in his first jailhouse interview that "The DA is arresting cops, indicting cops. They're trying to make an example out of me." more ›